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DJSCARDED. 
FROM 



OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



A RECORD OF A NINE MONTHS* TOUR THROUGH 

EUROPE, EGYPT, HOLY LAND, ASIA 

MINOR AND GREECE. 

REV. WM. A^^MITH. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

W. W. BARR, D. D. 



Second Edition — Revised and Enlarged. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



PITTSBURGH: 

United Presbyterian Board of Publication, 

53 AND 55 Ninth Street, 

1897. 










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DEDICATION. 

To the mother whose tender and prayerful interest has ever 
followed me through childhood's little griefs, the temptations of 
young manhood, the joys and sorrows of more mature years, 
and the perils of travel in foreign lands; as well as to the multi- 
tude of personal friends with whom we have been more or less 
associated in times past, is this little volume affectionately in- 
scribed by the 

AUTHOR. 
(3) 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

The literature of travel is so abundant in these days of multi- 
plied facilities for easy and inexpensive travel, that we have hesi- 
tated to thrust before the public a second edition of a work that 
was never intended for anything but a limited circulation among 
the author's own friends and acquaintances. But the first edition 
has been so kindly received, that now, at the solicitation of friends, 
a second edition, enlarged and revised, is sent forth and committed 
to the tender mercies of a more public reading. 

Careful as we have been to make our record, both as to his- 
torical fact and personal observation, as correct as possible, there 
will undoubtedly be found some errors, in regard to which the 
critical must be as lenient as though the authorship was their own. 

Indebtedness is acknowledged to guide books, etc., for statis- 
tics, measurements, and general history. As for the rest we have 
relied on a good, full journal of daily events, kept as we went 
along. 

It had been the life-long ambition of the author to see for 
himself those countries of the Old World, where history was made, 
particularly those portions of the Orient so intimately connected 
with the Book of books, so that by being able to localize place and 
event he could be clearer in his own mind and more useful to the 
public before which he must continually stand in his chosen sphere 
of teacher and minister. It was study then, and not pleasure 
alone, that gave motive to the nine months' tour of which the 
present work is a narrative. The journey was undertaken at a 
critical period of the author's life, at a time when it was specially 
calculated to be a renewer of health and spirits ; it was both in an 
abundant measure. The journey was a constant succession of de- 
lights from the beginning to the end. We have tried to make the 
reader feel that it was such, and to enter, as far as his imagination 
would permit, into the pleasure of the journey with us. It is 
hoped that some of those who may read our record, and who may 
•afterwards make a similar tour in person, being limited in means, 
may find some hints as to economical traveling, which may be of 
some practical service to them. 

W. ALEX. SMITH. 

June, 1896. 

(6; 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER I. 
On the Deep . .11 

CHAPTER n. 
In the Queen's City 19 

CHAPTER III. 
Here and There in London 28 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Gay City op Fashion 38 

CHAPTER V. 
In Paris— Seeing the Sights 45 

CHAPTER VI. 
Southern France ; and the P'rench and Italian Rivieras 53 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Seven Hilled City— Jubilee Week in Rome . . 65 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Rambles in and Around Rome 77 

CHAPTER IX. 
Farewell to Rome — Life Around the Bay of Naples . 88 

CHAPTER X. 
In the Land of the Pharaohs ...... 100 

CHAPTER XI. 
United Presbyterian Missions in Egypt . . . . 1 1 1 

CHAPTER XII. 
Cross AND Crescent 129 

(6) 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7 

, CHAPTER XIII. 
Aroxjnd About Cairo 140 

CHAPTER XIV. 
From Cairo TO Jerusalem 152 

CHAPTER XV. 
Over the Hills of Judea to Hebron, Dead Sea and Jor- 
dan Valley 163 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Walks About ZiON .176 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Easter Days in the Holy City 191 

CHAPTER XVIIl. 
Through Samaria and Galilee ..... 202 

CHAPTER XIX. 
From Jerusalem to Athens via. Beyrout, Smyrna and 

Ephesus 215 

CHAPTER XX. 
Rambles Around Athens and Corinth . . . .223 

CHAPTER XXI. 
From Athens to London, Through Northern Italy and 

THE Alps 236 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Rambles Around Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling 250 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Through Regions Fragrant with Memories of Poet, 

Novelist and Martyr 262 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Where Pat Lives — Observations in the Emerald Isle 272 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Homeward Bound 280 



INTRODUCTION. 
By the Rev. W. W. Barr, D. D. 

The prophet Daniel said more than five hundred years be- 
fore Christ, as he looked with the seer's eye into the distant 
future, "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be in- 
creased." His prophecy is being fulfilled, at least in measure, 
in our day. Never was there such running to and fro in the 
world as at the present time, and never was knowledge so largely 
increased as now. 

King Solomon said in his day, nearly a thousand years be- 
fore Christ, "Of making many books there is no end." Did he 
live in this day he would repeat the declaration with an em- 
phasis that he could not have given to his words when he wrote 
them. If he lived now, and contemplated only a single class of 
books, he would say, "Of making many books of travel there is 
no end." Perhaps he might add, "And much study of many of 
these is a weariness of the flesh." We are confident, however, 
that he would not say this of the little volume which it is now 
our pleasure to introduce to the reader. 

The part of the world traveled by the author of this book, 
namely, from New York to Glasgow, to London, Paris, across 
France, through Italy, over the Mediterranean to Alexandria 
and Cairo, Egypt, then over to Palestine and through the Holy 
Land, then back to Greece and across the Continent through 
Switzerland to London, and again to Scotland and through 
Ireland, and by the Atlantic to New York, is familiar to travel- 
ers and to a large number of readers who have perused the vol- 
umes which they have written. On the whole there is no route 
of travel so interesting and profitable as this. A large number 
have realized its pleasure and enjoyed its advantages. A much 
greater number have only had it in their desire, or as a fond 
dream never to become a reality. 

The best that these last could do has been to travel in 
thought and sympathy with those who have gone over the 
ground and have published what they have seen and experi- 
enced by the way. The pleasure and profit enjoyed by the vol- 
umes of travel that have appeared have been varied. Some of 

(8) 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

these have been delightful pen pictures and have been packed 
full of useful information; others have been commonplace, 
prolix, prosy and dull. 

We do not hesitate to class with the former the volume 
that is now before us. The author traveled with his eyes and 
ears open. He went deliberately when and where the most im- 
portant things were to be seen and learned. Places of less note 
and interest were passed by, or were seen hurriedly. He had 
with him for the most of the way a very pleasant and witty 
traveling companion, whom he designates as "H." Not infre- 
quently he gives his readers the benefit of "H's" humorous 
and sage observations. On these the author sometimes com- 
ments, and exhibits a large degree of wit and humor himself. 
Often we seem to hear the loud laugh of these genial compan- 
ions in travel, and we, though not with them, enjoy the fun. 
The book is much enlivened by this means. 

It was our pleasvire to go over, some years ago, the greater 
part of the tour made by the author of this volume. We have 
much enjoyed the trip again with him, and we are glad to testify 
in general to the accuracy of his observations and descriptions. 
The fault which we found with the book in its first edition was 
that there was too little of it. Often we wished that he had 
told us more. This was specially true of his trip through Egypt. 
We were disappointed that he did not take more time in that 
country, and especially that he did not tell us more of what he 
saw and learned of the United Presbyterian mission and mis- 
sionaries in that land. This defect, however, is remedied in the 
new edition that is now issued by the United Presbyterian Board 
of Publication. Two chapters are here added: one entitled, 
"Cross and Crescent," and the other, "United Presbyterian Mis- 
sions in Egypt." The value of the first edition, which was "in- 
tended rather to afiford a little pleasure and recreation to per- 
sonal friends, than as a means of adding to the world's store of 
knowledge," is greatly enhanced by these additional chapters. 
As at present pubHshed, the work takes its place among the 
most readable, pleasant and useful books of travel. 

Philadelphia, August, 1896. 






CHAPTER I. 

ON THE DEEP. 

HN ocean voyage to those who have often had the expe- 
rience is not one of the most interesting things where- 
of to make a book chapter or a newspaper article. 
But it may as well be candidly stated at the outset that the 
chapters of this little volume are not written with the expecta- 
tion that they will fall under the notice of, or to any great 
degree interest, those who from motives of business or pleas- 
ure have become habitual roamers of the great deep or coun- 
tries beyond. To such, an ocean voyage presents little variety; 
always the same great expanse of sea on which days together 
may be passed without sight of sail or trail of smoke to indi- 
cate the fact that other fellow-mortals are anywhere within the 
sphere of your existence. To be sure, old Neptune will occa- 
sionally take pity on the voyager who longs for the spice of 
variety in his monotonous life, and raise commotion enough 
to satisfy the most eager hunter after variety. To those accus- 
tomed for the most part to land travel, or have passed the 
ocean but a time or two, an ocean voyage may be anything 
else than monotonous. Life on board the ocean steamship 
of the huge proportions and luxurious fittings as are most of 
the vessels belonging to the Cunard, Inman, White Star, and 
Anchor lines, presents a novel and pleasing feature to the 
traveler hitherto accustomed to the rattle and dust, and vexa- 
tious delays of railroad travel. What delicious hours may be 
11 



12 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

enjoyed on the promenade deck, taking in the fresh sea air and 
watching the roll of the billows, or scanning the horizon for 
some other white-winged traveler of the deep! What recrea- 
tion in some deck game with your fellow passengers, or amuse- 
ment in watching the antics of the sportive porpoise! These 
are your day enjoyments; but the night has its own variety of 
sights for you. 

For hours at a time we have stood at the stern of our 
vessel and watched the rolling balls and sparkles of phos- 
phorescent light which the Titanic screw shot out over the 
vessel's foaming track like a thousand sparks from beneath 
a Vulcan's mighty hammer. Nor does this end the nightly 
display of Nature's fireworks. Look to the northward ! Your 
landsman's eye never saw such auroral beauty as that. From 
the eastern to the western horizon that arc of electric colored 
light extends; and along its whole length, from both upper and 
lower edges, thousands of streamers are shooting skyward, 
many of them reaching to the zenith, and looking like giant 
comets' tails. There! like a great rocket, shoots up a brilliant 
streamer, whilst another one that has gone a moment before 
fades away, and so from one quarter of the sky to another the 
eye is drawn as these streamers in rapid succession shoot 
athwart the sky. A panorama of unequalled natural beauty 
is this display of ocean aurora. 

Perhaps the reader into whose hands these pages may 
ultimately come will now be content to linger awhile on the 
ocean voyage, which commenced for the writer a pilgrimage 
of nine months, covering the larger part of Europe, Egypt, 
Holy Land, Syria, a part of Asia Minor and Greece. This 
simple record of our tour is made in the hope that it may in- 
terest those who never expect to see for themselves these 
lands of sacred and historical interest, as well as to furnish hints 
to intending travelers how such a tour as was made in this 
instance may be made to yield the greatest amount of enjoy- 
ment and knowledge for the least expenditure of money con- 



ON THE DEEP. 13 

sistent with health and comfort. We may be pardoned, there- 
fore, for a minutia of statement at times relative to the econ- 
omies of the tour. Like most other travelers, we paid out some 
cash for experience, and those of our friends who may have the 
happiness of a tour through the Old World would doubtless 
prefer to have the benefit of our experience and retain their 
cash. 

We were five Hawkeyes who resolved on widening the 
range of our mental vision by an eye to eye study and enjoy- 
ment of things beyond the water; and our capital for the enter- 
prise was seven hundred dollars each. With this amount we 
hoped to journey leisurely through Europe, hastily through 
Egypt, with a month left us for Palestine. How we succeeded, 
and in what ways we departed from our itinerary of travel, will 
be seen as we progress. 

Our passage is engaged by the Anchorline steamship "Fur- 
nessia,"a fine vessel, next in size to the largest vessel of the fleet. 
We have decided on a first cabin passage, inasmuch as a special 
rate of forty-five dollars each is made for the company. Here 
we make our first mistake, as we afterwards find, in not taking 
a second cabin via one of the lines running direct to Liverpool 
and London. A quicker passage at a rate of thirty-five dollars 
would have been obtained in this way, with no loss of comfort. 

It is a delightful day in the middle of October as we stand 
on the foremost part of the first cabin deck looking at the prep- 
arations for departure. There is the usual crowd of friends 
standing on the pier with ready handkerchiefs to wave their 
farewells to the departing ones. But we are friendless, so far 
as the great city is concerned; we are strangers going among 
strangers, and we are free to confess that, much as we had 
longed for this glad hour to come, we are almost as ready to use 
our handkerchiefs as many that we see around us. The bell 
rings out a warning, the whistle sounds, and the gang plank 
is drawn in, and two tug boats are at our vessel's side trying to 



14 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

drag her out into mid-stream. It looks like the babe trying 
to help the giant up, to see those two little tugs nosing our 
vessel around. 

But how the ludicrous will mingle with the sombre ! Just 
below us on the steerage deck is a young Italian who evidently 
hasn't grown rich in America, if we may judge by outward 
appearances, but whose heart is full to overflowing with the 
sorrow of the farewells he has just spoken. Just watch that 
dirty piece of linen in his hand as he makes a dip with it every 
few seconds at his muddy face! He is mopping the dirt all 
over that round face of his ; and those awful facial contortions 
as he once more waves his soiled linen towards the shore! 
Will his countenance ever straighten out again? Poor fellow! 
he is performing a mission of which he has no knowledge ; our 
own sad thoughts are chased away by the sense of the ludicrous 
in his appearance. 

Down the North river we glide, past the Battery and the 
statue of Liberty. Just ahead of us is a fine French steamer, 
the "La Bourgogne," bound for Havre; and closely following 
us the fastest of the Cunard's Hne of steamships, the "Etruria;" 
whilst at our sides are the "Helvetia," and an Austrian Lloyd 
vessel. The "Etruria" steams proudly past us in less than 
half an hour. 

Sandy Hook and Staten Island are already dimming in 
the distance when the steward's bell calls us to a_new expe- 
rience in our novel surroundings — our first meal on shipboard. 
Surely that must be a capacious side-board, we thought, from 
whence this multitude of dishes comes; and that larder must 
be well stocked that will stand such a strain as this upon it 
four times a day for the next ten days! But a friend at my 
elbow whispers something about seasickness, and we catch 
the idea that the steward's bounty may not require this sort 
of tax upon it very long. But the bar of the vessel is finding 
a liberal patronage thus early, if we may judge by the loose 
tongues that are betraying the spirit in a few of our fellow- 



ON THE DEEP. 15 

diners. When night drops her sable curtain over the scene 
we are apparently alone on the great deep, for we have parted 
company with our consorts. 

How beautiful this first night on our ocean journey! The 
sea rests in perfect quiet around us, and no sound disturbs 
the almost solemn stillness, save one, the great heart of the 
giant that bears us on over this watery waste. How it pants 
and throbs away down in the engine room, as if it would tear 
itself loose from the iron bosom that holds it! Its pulsations 
send a tremor from stem to stern, and with its labored breath- 
ings still in our ears we seek our berth and pass into dream- 
land. No mother's lullaby song could have wiled our in- 
fant spirit into a more placid mood, or introduced it into 
sweeter slumber, than did the throbbings of our vessel's great 
engines on this first night of our ocean slumberings. 

Our second day out is the Sabbath; a quiet, pleasant day, 
with only one little incident to mar its pleasure. Death is 
the same everywhere, whether on sea or on land, a saddener of 
the spirit. At noon the body of a three-months-old infant is 
dropped into the waters at our stern. In the afternoon we 
enjoy sanctuary privileges in the saloon cabin. Rev. George 
B. Taylor, of Virginia, in charge of the services. Meet is it 
for us to praise the Lord on this. His holy day, for "They that 
go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 
these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." 

Nearly two full days has our vessel been on her way, and 
five hundred miles of sea lie between us and New York harbor. 
No sign of ocean life has been visible since we parted company 
with our consorts on Saturday evening until to-day, when a 
sail and steamer are sighted at some distance. Some of the 
cabin passengers amuse themselves at a game of shuf^e board, 
whilst others enjoy the promenade deck in social chat with 
new-made acquaintances. Few have yet paid the usual tribute 
to Neptune, and consequently have not realized the truth of 



16 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

the Frenchman's remark, who was yet visibly under the influ- 
ence of Ocean's forced tribute, when he said: "For plaisar I 
cross the ocean nevare"! 

We have among our cabin passengers a certain number of 
Scotch and Irish young people who are homeward bound ; and 
these same young people are not slow to perceive that our 
long deck and these moonlit nights afiford opportunities for 
the cultivation of the tender passion such as coy maiden or 
gallant swain would seek for in vain on the land. And we have 
not the slightest doubt but that we landed passengers on the 
Irish coast, and carried others on to Scotland, who would not 
be long content to let the Irish sea separate their fortunes. 

But even here on shipboard, as on the land, joy alternates 
with sorrow. Whilst the merry marriage bells are sending 
forth their most joyful peals, from another neighboring church 
tower the solemn death toll may be heard. Four o'clock of 
this, our second day out, and it is whispered that death is in 
the cabin. Yes, it is even too true, and that under the saddest 
of circumstances. A victim of the vessel's bar, from whom 
the fiery liquid should have been shut off early on the Sabbath, 
lies in the state-room in that sleep from which no earthly power 
shall wake him. Apoplexy of the brain induced by excessive 
drinking, and he dies drunk. A young mercantile runner he 
was, returning home to Glasgow, where a mother and sister 
were awaiting his coming. With the convivial nature common 
to his class, he gave himself up to the pleasure of the hour in 
company with two or three other kindred spirits. We missed 
him on the Sabbath from his seat opposite us at the table; 
but alas! we little dreamed that we should stand as we do to- 
night, a silent little company at the stern of the vessel with 
the wrapped and weighted body on a plank before us, waiting 
only for the solemn burial service to be read over him by the 
captain before sliding him off the plank into a grave two miles 
in depth. We have often listened to the Scotchman as he ex- 
tolled the purity of Scotch whisky, and vauntingly declared 



ON THE DEEP. 17 

that he knew how to take his drink in moderation; and we 
didn't know but what he was teUing us the truth. But now we 
are ready to declare that if what we have thus far seen of the 
effects of Scotch whisky and of the Scot's moderation be not 
misleading, it is of a stripe similar to what we witness of it 
everywhere else. 

On this, our fourth day out, the sea begins to roughen, 
and vacant places at the table are growing more numerous; 
and as you sit, strange, suspicious sounds from the surround- 
ing cabins come to your ears, and we realize that we are in 
the midst of a new experience. 

But, after all, this is only a gentle hint of the strange va- 
riety of life which old Ocean, in his restless moods, is likely to 
introduce on an ocean journey. Our next two or three days' 
steaming are days of pleasant sunshine and calm waters, with 
the passage enlivened with games, concert, song and dance. 
Our ninth day out and we have a dance of another sort in the 
dining-room cabin. The long, heavy sea swells of last evening 
gave us warning of an approaching frolic of the waves. How 
the dishes rattle and insist on moving around! Tlie racks are 
put upon the table to keep them from taking independent jour- 
neys across the floor. 

Early this morning, our tenth day out, the bold, northern 
cliffs of Ireland are discovered, and about three hours later we 
enter Loch Foyle and steam down to Moville, where we land 
our Irish passengers, about fifty-five of them, after having join- 
ed hands with them on deck in a parting song, "Auld Lang 
Syne." A cheerful, good-hearted crowd those Irish were, and 
it is with sincere regret that we give them a final wave of our 
handkerchiefs and turn our prow seaward again. 

As we pass down the Loch, on our left we notice the 
ruined castle of an old Irish family of renown, the O'Dougher- 
tys. Those of us who have never been in this region before 
have no little interest in these bold, precipitous cliffs on our 
right as we pass along the northern coast, for here is the 



18 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

Giant's Causeway, which has excited onr curiosity since boy- 
hood's days. And it is just a httle bit exasperating to pass so 
near and yet not be able to visit it; but we console ourselves 
with the thought that we will see it on our return. 

Along this rocky coast may be seen, as we stand on deck, 
the mouths of numerous caves, against which the sea, with 
sullen roar, throws itself in angry violence, and, breaking into 
a white foam, retires for a fresh onslaught. To our left is the 
"Mull of Cantire." Here is a light-house, the light of which is 
seen at a distance of twenty-two miles. Away in our front, ris- 
ing up out of the sea like a huge bowl turned upside down, 
is "Ailsa Craig," or Paddy's milestone. It is a solid rock 1,200 
feet high, the roosting and nesting place of countless numbers 
of sea fowl. 

On our left is Arran, and to the eastward on the mainland, 
as we enter the Firth of Clyde, the town of Ayr comes into 
view. Near to Ayr the poet Burns was born, and in this region 
the muse inspired the production of "Tarn O'Shanter," "Man 
was Made to Mourn," and the "Braes of Ballochmyle." But 
we will come into more intimate acquaintance with this region 
at another time. 

The voyage up the Firth of Clyde, if made in daylight 
and in pleasant weather, is an exceedingly interesting one to 
the lover of natural scenery. It is already night when our 
steamer drops her anchor in the Grenock harbor, at the end of 
a ten days' voyage full of pleasant memories. A little delay 
with the custom officers, and we are off by train for Glasgow. 



CHAPTER TI. 

IN THE QUEEN'S CITY. 

©UR first impressions of Glasgow are not of the most 
favorable kind, as we take our first morning view of it 
from the windows of St. Enoch's. A drizzling rain 
is falling, and the smoke issuing from the tall chimneys of 
hundreds of foundries, manufactories and collieries spreads an 
air of gloom over things that come with depressing effect upon 
the spirits of our party, which have not yet fully rallied from 
the sea voyage. We hold a council and decide to remain over 
a day in the city, instead of moving on direct to London as 
we had planned. In this way we hope to renew our spirits and 
carry away better impressions of this, one of Scotland"s most 
prosperous and enterprising cities. But ere these wanderings 
are accomplished we expect to return and acquaint ourselves 
with the city more at our leisure. We find opportunity during 
the day to visit some friends, the old cathedral, and Knox 
monument. The next morning finds us busy in preparation 
for our London journey. 

St. Enoch's station is a little world in itself. Not five 
minutes at a time throughout the entire day passes without 
either an incoming or an outgoing train ; and you wonder as you 
meet the hurrying crowds sifting through each other in counter 
directions, where so many live, or what necessity of business 
keeps so large a part of the population in such a whirl of 
motion. 
(19) 



20 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

"These Old World people," remarks my friend, as we are 
noting some of the peculiarities of the rolling stock, "are a 
quarter century behind the progressive American in the skill, 
taste and luxury evidenced in the construction of their railroad 
rolling stock." "See that engine! No bell, no pilot; an 
uncouth looking machine, mounted on high wheels." "And 
these passenger coaches! Why, we could put two of them 
inside one of our Pullman or Wagner's, and no chance of 
heating them whatever." "People sometimes make mistakes," 
I answer, "in judging of the qualities of their pudding before 
tasting it. We'll get a good taste of British railway travel 
to-day in our four hundred miles of ride. Let us go and see if 
we can't have one of these compartments reserved for the ex- 
clusive use of our party." The proper official is seen, and our 
desire is granted without a murmur or an extra charge. "Note 
this as advantage number one over American railway accom- 
modation," I remark, as our man plasters a notice of "Re- 
served" on a window of a second class compartment. 

Our tickets are purchased over the Midland; second class 
fare to London, eight dollars. An official looks at the tickets 
as we enter our compartment, locks the door, and the guard 
toots his whistle and we are oflf. How we fly ! Say what you 
please of the inferior rolling stock of British railways, the road- 
beds are first-class, double railed, and complete in all the 
appointments necessary to speed and safety. We miss the 
warming apparatus of our American coaches on this cool 
morning. The only thing we have in lieu of it is a pair of 
galvanized iron cans filled with hot water, upon which we may 

place our feet. "No danger of fire in this coach," says H . 

"Nor of the peanut, or yellow-backed literature man, either," 
another of the company answers. "And then," says the lady 
of the party, "we can brew our own tea, and have a delightful 
family spread all by ourselves, with no curious eyes observant 
of our motions." And so, with the aid of a little spirit lamp, 



IN THE QUEEN'S CITY. 21 

and water obtained from the station pumps by the way, we 
do twice during the day. 

If the traveler would see Scotland and England in their 
autumnal glory, and enjoy a ride through scenery the most 
picturesque, and over ground abounding in romantic and his- 
torical interest, let him take an early morning train from Glas- 
gow, via the Midland, to London. He will be whirled along 
at the rate of forty-five miles an hour; now skirting the edge' 
of some long chain of lofty hills, from which he can look down 
into valleys, green as in midsummer, alive with sheep and cat- 
tle; now flying through these valleys themselves, where he can 
obtain a nearer view of the low stone walls which cut the val- 
leys into pasture fields so diminutive that one wonders whether 
they were not intended for garden patches instead of pasture 
fields. But we quickly learn that we are now in a country of 
small dimensions compared to the vastness of things on the 
other side of the water, and that every foot of ground must be 
utilized. As we approach the English border some one recol- 
lects that we shall get a glimpse of a little hamlet to which a 
rather romantic interest attaches, from the fact that, in days 
gone by, when the English law recognized the validity of the 
Scottish mutual declaration marriage custom, many an angry 
pater familias from the English side reached the burg just as 
the village blacksmith had finished the job of welding together 
two human lives. "Gretna Green!" Yes, here it is; but where 
is it? Too small to be seen. Yonder, doubtless, is the old inn 
at which so many modest couples avoided the banns nuisance, 
as well as the decided negative of the parental powers. 

Darkness is already shutting out our landscape view when 
the flaming smoke-stacks of Leeds and Sheffield tell us that 
we are in the midst of the great manufacturing district of York- 
shire. We regret that we are obliged to make our entrance 
into the Queen's City under cover of darkness; be led, as it 
were, blindfolded, away from that which is familiar, and turn- 
ed loose in the heart of a great unknown, without knowing 



22 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

whence we come or whither we shall go. We are landed at 
the Midland Grand Hotel about nine o'clock; and after a hasty 
consultation relative to the program for the morrow, we resign 
ourselves to the luxury of sleep. 

A genuine London fog greets us this morning as we try 
to get a view of the great city. We have decided on a three 
weeks' stay, long enough to do the city in pretty good style, we 
think. Two of the party go out in quest of a suite of rooms, 
and soon return reporting that good accommodations have 
been found on Russel Square, consisting of three furnished, 
rooms, at a cost, inclusive of breakfast each day, of sixteen 
shillings per week, with a cook and dining room thrown in for 
evening uses. After settling ourselves in our new quarters, we 
go out "Yankee Doodle" like to see the town. 

That sense of vastness which we have before alluded to as 
giving place to a narrow, cramped condition of things on this 
side of the water, once more regains possession of our minds 
as we take our day's survey of the queenly city. Here we are 
met by such magnitudes both in respect to space, cost and 
material, that our American mind, used as it is to the almost 
limitless condition of things on the other side of the water, can 
hardly grasp the situation. "If this be London," said friend 
H , one day after we had ridden around on the tops of tram- 
ways for hours trying to find the outer edge of the city, "where 
does England commence?" 

We feel lost; shut up, as it were, in city, nothing but city, 
go where we will. Here are nearly four millions of people, 
thrown together, the extremes of wealth and poverty. Here 
are men who own whole squares and streets, and who can at 
their pleasure put up the bars across the streets they own, as 
may actually be seen in more than one London street, and say 
to the pubHc, "Hitherto, but no farther," and there are none to 
question the authority of the act. And the great question that 
is now perplexing the English as well as the American mind is, 
to what is all this concentration of power and wealth leading? 



IN THE QUEEN'S CITY. 23 

Right here in the heart of London on Trafalgar Square, 
during these days of our visit, gather thousands of the unem- 
ployed to listen to inflammatory harangues, and give vent to 
feelings and wrongs which they attribute, rightly or wrongly, 
we know not, to this domination of the upper classes. In some 
practical way the troublesome question must soon be settled or 
the Londoner will be witness to riotous demonstrations and 
troubles such as he has not seen for some time. 

Tliere is real want among the masses of unemployed; and 
men will fight for bread when they will fight for nothing else. 
This want reaches out even into the rural districts. The clergy 
of the Church of England, whose income is dependent in part 
upon certain land rents, have failed, owing to crop failures, to 
receive their rents ; and many a poor prebendary is at this time 
sending home to the head of the church a cry of want. Busi- 
ness in London is depressed. The crowds of tourists have re- 
turned home, and certain lines of traffic have been closed. 
And yet in face of all this trade depression and want, London's 
annual folly, the induction of the new Lord Mayor into office, 
with all the usual reckless expenditure and public display of 
wealth, must needs go on. In the very presence of the riotous 
troubles in Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey all this 
is like a slap in the face to those who know not where the 
bread of the future is to come from. The mandate of prohibi- 
tion went forth only yesterday from the office of the Commis- 
sioner of Police, forbidding all future gatherings and speeches 
in Trafalgar Square. How these things will be received we, 
of course, know not; but trust that London's peace may not be 
disturbed thereby. 

To those who would see London at its best, we would say, 
do not come in the late autumn. Sunshine is too rare a luxury 
to be enjoyed in unstinted measure at this season of the year. 
Rain in abundance he may be sure of. And yet there are some 
compensations for the brighter summer season. The great 
rush of summer tourists is avoided, and one can see the sights 



24 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

at his leisure without the inconvenience of being jammed in 
with a crowd; and if he be economically inclined, he can find 
much cheaper entertainment in the autumn and winter seasons 
than at any other time. Thus far our experience is that we 
can live cheaper in Europe than at home. 

Our first Sabbath in London is a bright, fogless day ; and 
we hail it with gladness, for we would see London at her best 
on this, the best of days. We have each our favorite preachers 
that we are most eager to see and hear ; and most of our party 
being clericals, we have looked forward with especial pleasure 
to this feature of the tourists' enjoyment. 

Two of us start out early to hunt up Mr. Spurgeon's Taber- 
nacle, hoping to be fortunate enough to hear this king of living 
preachers. In this respect we are favored, for we arrive early 
enough to procure a good seat in the body of the auditorium, 
and to hear the great preacher himself. The Tabernacle seats 
about five thousand persons; is double galleried all around to 
the pulpit. As we looked around over the vast audience we 
could see no empty seats. The Psalms are largely used in the 
praise service, and the music is led by a precentor. This praise 
service is one long to be remembered, for it was entered into 
with a hearty good will by the audience. We had often felt a 
curiosity to know whether Mr. Spurgeon would hear as well 
as he would read. We found the preacher in the pulpit to be 
still more charming than the preacher in print. He announced 
his text in Zephaniah IIL, i6, 17, 18. He deplored the de- 
generacy of the church in general; but whilst, like the faithful 
of ancient Israel, we are made to feel sad at the lack of zeal and 
true piety in the church, yet might we gather encouragement 
at Jehovah's words as contained in the i6th verse: "In that day 
it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not; and to Zion, let not 
thine hands be slack." 

Mr. Spurgeon and congregation have lately withdrawn 
themselves from denominational connection with the Baptist 
church, and have become independent. The sermon we heard 



IN THE QUEEN'S CITY. 25 

contained throughout an undercurrent of apology for the with- 
drawal. This has proved to be our last opportunity of hearing 
Mr. Spurgeon, as goes to the south of France for the winter. 
These damp, cold London fogs begin to go hard with him. 

In the afternoon we find our way to the historical old 
Westminster Abbey, and hear a sermon by the sub-Dean, Rev. 
George Prothero. It seemed like being carried back centuries 
to sit there in that grand, but gloomy, old Abbey, surrounded 
by marble busts, slabs and floor inscriptions, all reminders of 
the historic dead. The ashes of kings and queens, of heroes 
of bloody fields, of poets, historians, and statesmen, rest be- 
neath our feet, at our side, and in every nook and corner of 
the sacred edifice. On the Sabbath previous to our visit a 
large number of the Trafalgar Square class attended the Abbey 
service and made a disturbance, and the presence of a platoon 
or two of police to-day is accounted for by the fear of a second 
disturbance of similar nature. 

We are pleased with the outward respect at least which 
London shows for the Sabbath. As we have made our rounds 
to-day through some of the principal thoroughfares of the city 
we observe no signs of the ordinary traffic of the week. The 
back doors of a few restaurants and saloons are open. Oxford 
and Holburn streets, the great arteries of life in this city of 
wonders, through which we have more than once found it 
difficult to push our way, are still as an ordinary village street. 
A hush of silence has fallen upon the heart of the great metrop- 
olis as though it had heard the whisper of the Eternal command- 
ing reverence for His holy day. Of course there is a hidden 
life behind the scenes, a restless demon that has withdrawn 
himself from public sight only long enough to mature his plans 
and recruit his energies for another conflict. What vice and 
wretchedness, what want and patient endurance of sufifering, 
are covered up under this fair exterior, we care not to know, 
since knowledge of this kind only brings pain without a remedy. 



26 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



Of this fact we have become satisfied, that exteriorly, London 
is on the Sabbath, one of the best ordered cities we have ever 
spent a Sabbath in. 

We find a pleasure in our apartment life such as we are sure 
we would not find in the more public and expensive hotel life. 
Our genial hostess, Mrs. Christie, makes things just as home- 
like as possible for us. And how replete with rich experiences 
these days of ramblings are, sometimes as a company, oftener 
in pairs, and occasionally alone, in the highways and byways 
of the queenly city. 

One of the most interesting 
of all historical spots of London 
to those who have any interest 
in the memory and deeds of those 
who lived to bless the world with 
religious truth and literature, is 
the Smithfield and Bunhill Fields 
quarter. 

Mounting to the top of an 
omnibus at the Royal Exchange 
and going northward to Moor- 
gate street and City Road nearly 
a mile, we arrive at the Bunhill 
Fields Cemetery. It is a plat 
of ground containing about five 
acres, surrounded by a high 
iron picket fence. It was long 
since filled with those who 
sleep their last sleep. Here 
rest the ashes of Isaac Watts, 
Daniel De Foe, John Owen and 
John Bunyan. Over De Foe's 
remains the children of the King- 
dom have erected a fine granite 
„^ ^^ „TT,vr,r,xT pillar. Taking a leaf from the 

STATUE OF BUNYAN. '■ ^ 




IN THE QUEEN'S CITY. 27 

grave of Watts, we pass on to the spot consecrated to the memory 
of Bunyan. The place, so long marked only by a rude head- 
stone, is now covered by a slab of stone about six inches in thick- 
ness. On this slab is placed a block of stone seven or 
eight feet in length, three feet wide, and two and a half in 
thickness. On this block lies, in the attitude of repose, a full 
length marble statue of Bunyan. Dead, but living he truly 
is, as no other purely human being lives, in the influence for 
good of his "Pilgrim's Progress." Hither come those of a 
Protestant faith who look upon the superstitious reverence 
paid by Roman Catholics to the dust and at the tombs of 
saints as sinful, to pay a venerated reverence to the last resting 
place of the wondrous dreamer. In times past those of a 
sterner Puritanic faith have begged with their dying breath 
that their coffins might be placed as near as possible to the coffin 
of the author of Pilgrim's Progress. 

Just across the street from where these sleepers rest, is the 
chapel, house and cemetery of the Wesleys. Here the great 
pioneers of Methodism, the two Wesleys and Whitefield, 
preached, and here rest their ashes. Fox, of "Book of Mar- 
tyrs" fame, is interred here also. Not far away is the old 
church of "St. Bartholomew the Great," in front of which the 
Smithfield martyrs suffered. London guards most sacredly 
these old cemeteries of the noble dead. 



C H A P TE R 1 1 1. 

HERE AND THERE IN LONDON. 

^^ ONDON'S parks are rather dull at this season of the 
Jg^^ year; but they are worth a visit notwithstanding, if for 
nothing else than to see how munificently the city pro- 
vides for the free air pleasure of her children. We plan an ex- 
cursion en masse to Regent's Park and the Zoological Gardens, 
situated in the northern portion of the Park. Regent's is the 
largest as well as the handsomest of the city's numerous and 
beautiful parks. It contains 472 acres, laid out in exquisite 
taste, adorned with sculptures, flowers, lakes and pretty villas. 
It contains a large botanical garden, around which runs a fine 
driveway of two miles in length. The Zoological Gardens are 
world-renowned; over 2,000 animals, birds and reptiles have 
here been collected together. One must take but a short noon- 
ing if he see in one day all the objects of interest in this fine park. 
We return a tired party at the close of this day's outing. 

Hyde Park is the next in size and beauty. It contains 388 
acres, and is abundantly supplied with shade, by trees which 
look as though they might have grown natively upon the spot. 
A fine lake called the Serpentine provides plenty of bathing 
accommodation in summer, as well as skating in winter. Join- 
ing it on the west are the Kensington Gardens; in reality a por- 
tion of the park, but which add 356 acres more to the park area. 

At the southwest entrance to Hyde Park, near to the Aps- 
ley House, stands a colossal bronze statue of Achilles, weighing 
(28) 



HERE AND THERE IN LONDON. 29 

thirty tons. It was cast from cannon captured at the battles of 
Waterloo and Salamanca, and was erected, as the inscription 
says, to the "Duke of Wellington and his companions in arms 
by their countrywomen." To the left of Prince's Gate, on the 
south side of Kensington Gardens is the national monument of 
the Prince Consort; a Gothic structure 175 feet in height, with 
a base 130 feet square. It is a magnificent monument, and is 
said to have cost a million dollars. London has two other mon- 
uments that do her honor; Trafalgar Square monument, erected 
to the memory of Lord Nelson, and the London Fire column, 
situated near the famous Billingsgate fish market. The latter 
is one of Wren's executions, and from its height of 200 feet a 
fine view of London may be had on a clear day ; we speak from 
experience. 

We have been pursuing the policy of using damp or rainy 
days for visiting museums, art galleries and all under cover 
places of interest, reserving the bright days for out of door 
sights; and passing the evenings together talking over the 
events of the day and writing up our journals. It is seldom 
thus far that we have attempted to see London by gas light. 
But there are certain places of great interest which can be seen 
to advantage at no other time; and the reader will be pleased to 
go with us now on a night excursion to one of the city's most 
unique places of entertainment. 

The cabman is called into requisition and we are soon 
landed at a large, brilHantly lighted hall. As we enter the door 
we seem to be among a throng of gaily dressed ladies and gen- 
tlemen, policemen, citizens and tourists. But we must be 
careful to whom we try to talk in this crowd. It is rather aris- 
tocratic in tone; and the chances are that if we make a blunder 
we will be regarded with a stare and contemptuous silence. 

"Can you tell me, sir," I asked of a tall policeman by whom 
I happened to be standing, "who that pleasant old lady is sitting 
in the chair and every now and then quietly glancing around at 
the crowd?" My question is unheeded; thinking he was a trifle 



30 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

hard of hearing, I repeated the question in a louder tone, but 
still no answer; and beginning to feel a little vexed at the fel- 
low's silence, was about to give his elbow a vigorous punch, 
when some amused smiles are discovered cast in my direction; 
and I awake to the fact that my policeman is a wax figure, like 
hundreds of others in the room. 

It is Madam Tussaud's fine wax works exhibition that we 
are in. The figures are all life size, and natural as life. Here 
are some in repose, whose breasts are gently heaving as in the 
act of breathing. There are others in quiet curiosity turning 
heads and eyes around occasionally to see what is going on 
about them. More than once during the evening did we ob- 
serve visitors trying to get some information out of these dum- 
mies. Here are kings and queens in courtly dress, represent- 
ing both the living and the dead. Poets, statesmen, generals, 
from many countries, are here in grand assembly. If only they 
would talk! That is all that is lacking to make the whole bril- 
lant show a reality. 

Passing out of this long hall, we enter another called the 
"Chamber of Horrors"; and truly the sights of this room are 
enough to give one the nightmare later on that night, if he find 
his bed at all. These are wax figures also. Here in his bath 
tub lies Murat, with the dagger driven into his side by the hand 
of Charlotte Corday, and a look of horrible agony in his face, 
as the life blood pours from the wound in his side. Decapi- 
tated hea-ds of noted murderers, by the score, with gory necks 
still dripping. Here we find Guiteau in company with many 
other red-handed assassins. The guillotined heads of Robes- 
pierre, Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, in another place, bring 
up sad memories of these unfortunate people. And here, too, 
is the very machine that did such cruel work in that awful Reign 
of Terror. "Wouldn't like to sleep with this crowd," said a vis- 
itor, as we were leaving the room for another, the Napoleonic 
Hall. 

Here we find numerous relics of the great warrior; the bed, 



HERE AND THERE IN LONDON. 31 

with waxen image of Napoleon in it, on which he died at St. 
Helena; the carriage in which he sat and watched the burning of 
Moscow, and in which he traveled to the field of Waterloo. 
This latter is a relic of great interest, for it was Napoleon's state 
carriage while at Elba, and accompanied him on many of his 
campaigns. It was captured on the evening following the bat- 
tle of Waterloo, and was sent to the Prince Regent, from whom 
it was purchased for exhibition purposes at a cost of $12,500. 

A few days after our interesting visit to the Wax Works 

Hall, H and I find ourselves in St. James' Park. The 

dav is bright and pleasant, and after touring around the park 
and Buckingham Palace grounds, we conclude to see a part of 
the city we have not yet been in. We have found out before 
this that the top of an omnibus, on a pleasant day, is one of the 
very best places imaginable from which to see the city. One 
can ride miles on one of these omnibuses for a penny. Climb- 
ing to the top of a bus which we are sure is going eastward 
some miles, we pass old Westminster Bridge and Parliament 
Buildings, over Westminster Road to its junction with the 
Kensington Park Road, thence by change of bus southward 
to Lambeth Road, and we have come within sight of the prin- 
cipal object of our search — the Bethlem Insane Asylum. On 
our side of the water its name, by an unwarrantable corruption 
changed to Bedlam, has become the synonym of all places where 
pandemonium reigns. But as we pass through this finely ap- 
pointed and majestic lot of buildings to-day and observe the 
quiet that reigns, we resolve hereafter to speak a good word 
for the much maligned Bethlem of London. 

Taking our usual position again on the top of a tramway 
car, four miles of riding over the old Kent Road brings us to 
Greenwich Park and Observatory, on the right bank of the 
Thames. The observatory is located in the park on a hill about 
three hundred feet above the level of the river. We make our 
investigations here, which do not result in the discovery of any 
new planet, or in learning why this particular observatory 



32 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

should be the central point from which the world's longitudinal 
reckonings should be made. Greenwich Station is but a small 
suburb of London, reached easily by excursion on the river, 
and worthy of a visit because of its fine hospital, world-renowned 
observatory and of its being the birthplace of Henry VIII., and 
his two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary. We return well satis- 
fied with our day's ramble. 

We devote another day to London Tower and BilHngs- 
gate fish market. At the tower we get a peep at the Crown 
Jewels, the blanket on which General Wolfe died when he re- 
ceived his mortal wound at Quebec ; the Bloody Tower, where 
Richard III. murdered his nephews, and the Beauchamp Tower, 
where Walter Raleigh sufifered his long imprisonment. Pass- 
ing out of the tower into the central court yard, we come to a 
spot marked in the pavement where the tower gallows used to 
stand. Here Sir William Wallace, Raleigh, Anne Boleyn, 
Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, with scores of other nota- 
bles of the historic past, met tragic deaths. What volumes of 
history could these old towers unfold if they could speak out 
their secrets! 

Our noonday lunch is taken on the fish market. Here 
is a new variety of London life which presents a novelty of fea- 
ture comic enough to bring enjoyment to the most confirmed 
old dyspeptic. Fish! Fish! of every variety, in such quantities 
as we have seen nowhere else. And fishy people, too, whose 
evil inclinations are constantly making it necessary for them to 
possess the art of slipping themselves through the hands of the 
police, much as they do their own slippery wares into the bas- 
kets of their customers. 

These days of our London visit are fast slipping away; and 
we might detain the reader here and there in the by-ways of 
many interesting excursions it has been our pleasure to make 
at different times. Parts of several days have been spent in the 
British Museum, which it were foolishness to attempt to give a 
detailed record of; for a volume in itself would be necessary to 



HERE AND THERE IN LONDON. 33 

speak of the treasures which this marvelous depository of knowl- 
edge contains. Of the art galleries which we have visited, 
several of which London may well be proud, we have purposely 
refrained from speaking, for these will meet us in yet greater 
numbers and perfection as we ramble on through other lands. 
But there is yet one place of historical interest to which as a 
company we give one most profitable day; and thither the 
reader is now invited. 

Said a lady friend to us a few days before leaving home, 
as she handed us a newspaper clipping, "Here is something de- 
scriptive of a place you may see while you are in London, and 
the reading of which may prove of interest to you now." It 
related to the Lollard's Tower in London. 

To a person familiar with the history of the tower and the 
palace with which it is connected, it will prove of no ordinary 
interest to make a visit thither. There are difficulties, however, 
connected with a visit. We made two vain attempts to get 
inside the palace before we succeeded. A written order from 
the Archbishop of Canterbury must be obtained before the 
porter will open his wicket-gate to you. Lambeth palace, with 
which the tower is connected, has been for the last seven cen- 
turies the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
It dates back to the twelfth century. In early times it was 
the residence of the Saxon kings. The Thames river used to 
splash its muddy waters against the sides of the tower, and 
when, in former days, kings and queens and other noted per- 
sonages used to visit the Archbishop at the palace, they alighted 
from a boat at the foot of a pair of stone steps that led up to the 
palace entrance. 

Now, this is all changed. First, next the river, comes the 
beautiful Thames embankment, a promenade for foot passen- 
gers, made of solid masonry and extending along the river on 
the south side from Westminster bridge to the Lambeth bridge. 
On the north side of the river the embankment extends from 



34 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

Westminster bridge to the Black Friar's bridge. Next to the 
embankment comes a street, thus placing the Thames at quite 
a remove from the walls of the palace. 

Queen Mary used to frequently visit the palace to see her 
favorite, Cardinal Poole; and thither also came Queen Eliza- 
beth to visit Archbishop Parker. Elizabeth did not relish the 
idea of a church dignitary's infringement of the rule of celibacy; 
and it is related of her that on one occasion, after having been 
very hospitably entertained by the Archbishop's wife, upon her 
departure she said to her: "Madam, I dare not call you; mistress, 
I cannot call you ; but whoever you are, I thank you." To this 
palace came, as a fugitive, the beautiful, but unfortunate, Mary 
of Modena, wife of James II., with her six-months-old infant in 
her arms. This infant became the future Pretender. In the 
crypt under the present palace chapel Queen Anne Boleyn, al- 
ready under sentence of death, was induced by Cranmer, who 
had himself only two years prior to this solemnly sworn the 
clergy to bestow the royal succession upon the heirs of Queen 
Annie, to avow some just and lawful impediment to the mar- 
riage which had taken place with Henry VIII. She was be- 
guiled into doing this under promise of life for herself that thus 
some reasonable pretext might be given for the bloody act al- 
ready resolvecl upon. In three days from the time of this 
avowal she went to the block, and her "maid, Jane Seymour, 
took her place as wife of Henry VIII. 

We are conducted by our well-informed porter into the 
guard room. He tells us that in the feudal age this room was 
used as a banqueting hall for the retainers of the ecclesiastical 
lords who occupied the palace; and that in Archbishop Laud's 
time feudal armor enough to equip 200 men hung upon the 
walls. All of these evidences of feudal times are gone, and we 
see only the heavy oaken panels of the wall and roof, which had 
their origin in the days of chivalry. Passing into the chapel, 
which dates back into the thirteenth century, the first thing 
that meets our eye is a remarkable sarcophagus containing the 



HERE AND THERE IN LONDON. 35 

remains of Archbishop Parker. In the times of the Common- 
wealth Cromwell's men, wanting to use the chapel as a dining- 
room and dance hall, and not liking their ghostly neighbor's 
contiguity, broke into the coffin, took out the remains and hid 
them in a dung-hill and sold what was valuable about the 
coffin. 

Five hundred years ago Wiclifife met the charge of heresy 
in this chapel. As he stood all alone before his judges who 
were about to sentence him, suddenly the Lollards swarmed in 
around him, and these were immediately followed by Sir Lewis 
CHfford, who arrested the sentence about to be passed. 

We are now led by our guide into the tower. In this 
tower, it is supposed by some, the Lollards suffered imprison- 
ment. And we are shown eight iron rings fixed in the oak- 
lined walls, to which the sufferers were fastened. On the oaken 
walls are cut in numerous places inscriptions, sometimes con- 
sisting of scripture, and sometimes of other expressions of trust 
in God, and in several instances of devices of the heart. In 
one place we noticed where one poor fellow kept track of time 
by cutting little notches in the sharp corner of a piece of mold- 
ing ; and in another place we notice upon the wall a dark stain 
which by analysis is proved to be a blood stain. Our guide in- 
formed us that here these poor victims were oftentimes killed, 
and their bodies slid down through a sort of funnel into the 
Thames. There is a recess in the stone wall where it is said 
fires were built, and the victims suffered death by suffocation. 
It is proper to state in this connection that it is a matter of some 
doubt whether or not a Lollard ever suffered in this tower. 
The founder of Lollardism, Peter Lollard, suffered death at 
Cologne, as a political agitator, two years before Wicliffe was 
born. 

There was a Lollard's tower somewhere, of which Latimer 
said: "T would rather be in Purgatory than lie in it;" and oi 
which .-;iiother victim said: 'Tf I were a dog, you could not 
appoint me a worse or viler place." But it is asserted that t'us 



36 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

tower never was at Lambeth, for the great fire swept away all 
traces of Old London House, of Bonner's inquisition and dun- 
geons, and that the traditions of the true Lollard's tower of Lon- 
don House were easily fastened to the iron ringed cell of the so- 
called Lollard's Tower of Lambeth. Be this as it may, one 
thing is certain, that the present Lambeth Tower was a place 
of misery and death to many of the saints in Bloody Mary's 
reign. 

Admittance to the Parliament buildings was denied us, so 
we were forced to content ourselves with an outside view. The 
dynamiters from our side of the water have made it exceedingly 
difficult for a tourist to see many places he would like to see. A 
more imposing structure than the Parliament House it has 
never been our privilege to see. One gets the best view from 
the Westminster bridge or the Thames embankment, near to 
the Lambeth palace. It covers an area of eight acres, and its 
numerous turrets and lofty towers give it a sort of cathedral 
look. From its tall clock tower, "Old Ben," as it is called, 320 
feet high, come the quarter hour strokes that tell us in musical 
tones of the flight of time. Close by, nestling as it were under 
its wing, is the St. Margaret's chapel, where Canon Farrar min- 
isters. We had the pleasure of hearing and speaking with the 
Canon last Sabbath. 

The day of rest was sadly disturbed by riotous demonstra- 
tions around Trafalgar square. The crisis between the authori- 
ties and the unemployed and the socialistic factions of the city 
was reached on last Sabbath. Sir Charles Warren had issued 
his mandate prohibiting the meetings in Trafalgar square, but 
in the face of this prohibition it was determined on the part of 
the leaders of this reckless movement to hold the meeting. On 
the part of the authorities it was determined to maintain the 
prestige of law, even if bloodshed was necessary in doing it. 
Early in the morning the square was taken possession of by a 
small force of police, which was augmented during the day. 
until at 2 p. m., when we passed the square, the major portion 



HERE AND THERE IN LONDON. 37 

of the police force of London was massed in and around it. 
Later in the day it was still further augmented by a force of 
military. All was done in the way of remonstrance and silent 
endurance of taunts and insults that could be done on the part 
of the authorities to avoid bloodshed. But in several quarters 
blood flowed on both sides; two policemen were stabbed and 
carried ofif by comrades, and blows were freely exchanged, 
causing many bloody heads and faces. On every hand the mob 
was defeated, and on Monday quiet once more reigned on the 
streets. 

There seems to be no remedy for this sad state of things 
save in the summary dealing out of justice to these firebrand 
fellows, whose wild harangues about liberty and equal property 
rights serve only to inflame the passions of a certain class too 
numerous in all large cities. There is needed, likewise, in addi- 
tion to this measure of safety for the people, a careful, sympa- 
thetic consideration of the wants and woes of the people, on the 
part of the government; and in this particular the working 
classes of London deserve some sympathy. It is a government 
of the aristocracy, and in the interest of concentrated wealth. 
The Queen herself, with her court, seems oblivious to the dis- 
tress of the multitudes of London. Her Majesty's recent Jubi- 
lee presents, now on exhibition in St. James' palace, London, 
of immense value, and as useless to her Majesty as old rags, if 
sold, would relieve thousands of London's starving poor, and 
make to herself a monument in the hearts of the people more 
enduring than the gold and silver of which these presents are 
composed. But perhaps we are wrong in suggesting this dis- 
position of them at her hands. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE GAY CITY OF FASHION. 

^^P^HE three weeks of time allotted for our stay in this world 
yL / of wonders has already passed its limit by several days, 
and the question of speedy departure is being discussed 
as we sit in our cozy parlor this morning. 

The dreaded Channel! That is all that separates us from 
the French people, whose acquaintance we desire to make next. 
One member of the party falls into a meditative mood, and as 
we give his countenance a furtive glance now and then, it seems 
evident that some sorrowful recollections are coursing through 
his memory. "What may be the nature of your musings, 

friend H -?" we ask. "I was wondering if I should be 

compelled to lose as much grub in crossing the Channel as 1 
'did on the 'Furnessia.' Don't you think we could make the 
Channel by night? Fd like to steal a march on old Neptune 

this time, if I could." Our quiet man, W , lifts up his 

voice in consolation, remarking that "We have choice of three 
routes, as well as a day of night crossing of the Channel. One 
daylight route via the London, Chatham & Dover railway to 
Dover; thence across the Channel 21 miles to Calais, this being 
the shortest of the three routes; time four hours from London 
to Calais. A second route is from Folkstone to Boulogne, a 
longer daylight journey of eight hours, width of Channel 29 
(38) 



THE GAV CITY OF FASHION. 39 

miles. Then there is a third route from Newhaven to Dieppe, 
the longest of the three, but the cheaper, and will accommodate 
you with night passage." 

The lady of the party, who also has had some sorrowful 
experiences on the "Furnessia," expresses her preference for the 
night journey; and although this is a little disappointing to 
some of us who already begin to think ourselves sea-proof, we 
give a ready assent to it, and roll out of London in the darkness, 
even as we had entered it. Two hours of riding and we are at 
Newhaven. The Channel steamer is in waiting, and we are 
soon stowed away in our berths, oblivious to the fact that 64 
miles of dangerous waters roll between us and French soil. 

What a night was that! But our recollections of it are as 
briny as was our friend's of his Atlantic experience. Let it 
pass ; but ever after this we shall remonstrate against a 64-mile 
passage of the English Channel, when it can be made in 21. 
We are partially compensated, however, for the discomfort of 
the night, by a most enjoyable daylight ride through the Seine 
River Valley. There is something new and picturesque to our 
pilgrim eyes as we look out of our apartment windows over 
these gently rolling and well tilled plains of Old Normandy. 
We catch sight of many a thatch roof on the solid stone walls 
of the houses of the peasantry, but the better class are tile 
roofed. 

Rouen, the capital of the province, is reached. We have 
a desire to linger a day or two in this old historic city, where 
the "Maid of Orleans" met her untimely fate at the hands of the 
English, but necessity pushes us on. 

Shortly after leaving Rouen we have our first glimpse of 
snow. It puzzles us not a little at first to ascertain what it is 
that shines so white away across the valley on the distant hill- 
sides. We are not thinking of snow, although the air is sharp 
enough to suggest it; for we had made up our minds to leave 
winter behind us on the other side of the water. But there the 



40 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

genuine article is, and the farther south we go, the more evident 
it is that quite a Httle fall of snow has taken place. 

But there at last is the French capital coming into view. 
And now we begin to feel a sense of loneliness creeping over us. 
We have left our mother tongue behind us, and we know not 
who shall speak for us in this strange land. 

"Parle vouz France?" said a cabbie as he rushed up to 

H , apparently delighted to see him. "You're mistaken, 

friend; that isn't my name." "Oui, Parle vouz France?" per- 
sisted the cabbie. "No, sir! I tell you I am another fellow 
altogether," said our friend, as he gave the knight of the whip 
a lordly wave of the hand, indicative of growing impatience. 

It being early in the afternoon, we have decided to hunt 

apartments at once, instead of going to a hotel. H and 

I, who have gained a reputation for ourselves in this sort of 
business by our success in London, are started out in quest of 
accommodations. We first seek a certain hotel in quest of an 
interpreter, whose name and address we had procured before 
leaving London. We fail to find our man, and try the job of 
apartment hunting alone. 

"Maisons Aleubles!" exclaims H , glancing up at a 

yellow placard; "My sons — wonder what that other word is; 
French for dear, isn't it?" "Quite likely," I answer, "a Y. M. 
C. A. invitation to come up higher; let us do it." We do, and 
a madam with a white cap presents herself in answer to our 
summons. We use our best king's English, but all we could 
get in return was, "Non Parle Englaise, Monsieur; Parle vouz 
France?" Then we go through a series of pantomimic mo- 
tions such as, if seen by our friends at home, would have led 
them to think that the journey was proving too much for our 
mental faculties. "Every one appears to be expecting Parle 

France to-day," said H , as we found our way back to the 

street again. "Wonder who he is? Some distinguished 
Frenchman, I suppose." 



THE GAY CITY OF FASHION. 41 

We at least find a quarter where it seems reasonably sure 
we can be accommodated with such rooms as we desire, and 
post back to the Chemin de fer — we must call railway stations 
by their proper names in this country — get our friends and 
luggage into the care of a couple of hackmen, and go back 
again to the point where we expect to locate. Our hand bag- 
gage is deposited in the hallway of the house, and we pay our 
cabbies what we afterwards learn to be double the legal fare, 
but still they linger, angrily saying "pour boire." We cannot 
see that they look either boyish or very poor. 

Alas! we are strangers indeed, in a strange land; we are 
perplexed, vexed, with these rascally cabmen. The madam 
who controls the house in which we have temporarily set down 
our luggage, and whom we have not yet succeeded in seeing, 
now puts in an appearance from down street, and immediately a 
breeze of another sort is blowing in our direction. Seeing her 
hallway littered with our luggage, she demands an explana- 
tion, and forthwith bids us depart, and likewise pours such a 
tempest of wrath upon our cabbies that they crack their whips 
over their horses and fly as though all the furies were after them. 
"And now what?" said the quiet man. "Hotel," we murmur in 
chorus; and hotel it is. Later in the evening we find our man, 
McDougall, who is engaged as guide and interpreter for a few 
days. 

The Parisians take things easy in the morning; and it is 
nine o'clock next morning before our guide puts in an appear- 
ance. With his help we are soon domiciled for a two weeks' 
stay in a suite of rooms, comfortable and well located. Here 
we pay $7 per week for accommodations no better than those 
we had in London at $4 per week. Nothing is so cheap in 
Paris or in France, as in Great Britain. France is almost in a 
state of bankruptcy, and the government to keep itself afloat 
imposes a tax upon almost every article of merchandise. Paris, 
especially feels the situation, and groans under it. 



42 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

The observations that we are about to make concernmg this 
gay city of fashion are of a general nature, and, chronologically, 
would come a little later on in this record. But the reader may 
rest assured that they are the result, nevertheless, of a close 
observation of things that have come under our notice while in 
the city. 

It seems almost incredible, but we have seen fine looking 
horses, doubtless crippled in some way, loaded up on carts and 
on their way to the slaughter house to be converted into meat 
for the dainty Parisian appetite. Horse flesh is a common 
article of food to be found in the meat stalls of the city. Even 
owls are found among the dressed fowls in the market. A 
good beefsteak will cost about twenty-five cents per pound in 
Paris. There is an internal as well as an external to Paris which 
differ from each other as day does from night. "What are your 
impressions of Paris?" said a Paris physician to us the other 
day, and we were nonplussed how to make a polite answer, for 
they are too low to sound well in a native's ears. Externally 
Paris is beautiful. With her stately palaces, flowing fountains, 
wide boulevards, trees, flowering plants and shrubbery, her tri- 
umphal arches and tall columns erected in so many places, all 
are beautiful beyond comparison. But religiously and mor- 
ally, what aspect does she present? Much the same, we im- 
agine, as Rome in the beginning of her decline. In Paris, no 
God is acknowledged save the god of Reason. No Sabbath is 
observed. All shops and places of business are open on the 
Sabbath as on any other day of the week. The houses of wor- 
ship, even the Protestant, have but scattered congregations. 
Paris knows no rest either by day or night. The continuous 
rattle of carriages over the rough stone pavements is heard all 
hours of the night. Her people are a pleasure loving people, 
and the theaters are both numerous and well attended. The 
wine-shops are as thick in Paris as the dry goods and groceries 
are at home; there is a wine-shop for every fifty-seven of the 
population. "Eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die," 



THE GAY CITY OF FASHION. 43 

appears, to an outward observer at least, to be the unspoken 
sentiment of the average Parisian. The concealed vice of other 
large cities, here makes its appearance at the windows, and 
looks forth without the least thought of shame, as though it 
were the most worshipful thing in Paris. 

The McAll Mission is the little leaven that is working in 
the midst of this great lump of wickedness. But it needs to 
multiply its stations an hundred fold to make an impression 
that will be visible to the casual observer. 

France appears to be approaching a crisis of some sort or 
other; but what it will be, not even the most apt politician would 
dare to hazard a guess. The people are dissatisfied with a re- 
publican form of government. It is republican only in name, 
monarchical in practice. Even now during these days of our 
sojourn in the city, M. Grevy's Cabinet seems on the point of 
dissolution, and his own resignation is a forgone conclusion. 
Among people so excitable as the French, one knows not what 
to look for under such circumstances. If such a crisis were 
impending among the American people, we would have no 
fear but that they would come safely out of it. But we are 
getting out of our sphere when we try to discuss French politics. 

Paris has few street railways, and no underground or ele- 
vated ones. Its street travel is accomplished largely by omni- 
buses and cabs — voitures, they are called. These swarm every- 
where. There are second stories to the railway carriages in 
use on the suburban trains, in which one may ride and see the 
sights to good advantage. 

The gilded dome of the Church of the Invalides, where 
Napoleon the First has found a final resting place, can be seen 
from almost every part of the city. It is among the first of the 
city's attractions for our company. On entering this church, 
which is in reality a mausoleum dedicated to the Napoleon 
family, we notice a circular marble balustrade directly beneath 
the dome, about forty-five feet in diameter. Looking over this 
balustrade down into a crypt some eighteen feet below the floor 



44 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

level, our eyes rest upon the red Finland granite sarcophagus 
in which the remains of Napoleon rest. The monolith of 
which the tomb is composed is porphyry, weighing 135,000 
pounds. The cost of the monument, we are told, was about 
$1,000,000. Here rests in peace the great soldier who gave 
Europe no peace while he lived. In his will he expressed the 
desire that his remains might rest on the banks of the Seine, 
"In the midst of the people I love so well." It was a long while 
before the French people could obtain this boon from the Eng- 
lish nation; but Napoleon III. at last accomplished it. 

Adjoining the sepulchre is the home of the "Invalides" for 
old and crippled soldiers. It seems meet that the old veterans 
should end their days in peace under the shadow of the last rest- 
ing place of the great military genius whose victories and ex- 
ploits they love so well to dwell upon. 

Our next visit is to the Pantheon, in the crypt of which 
temporarily rests the remains of the great French novelist, Vic- 
tor Hugo. Opposite his tomb is that of Rousseau, and on his 
left the tomb of Voltaire. More interesting to us than all the 
rest, is the tomb of General Lafayette and wife. They rest in a 
private cemetery in the rear of an Augustine Convent. Ad- 
mission is not given to the public, but a small gratuity to the 
attendant will procure an entrance. 

We have only just begun our sight seeing in this gay me- 
tropolis, and we will let our next chapter give the story of our 
wanderings more in detail. 



CHAPTER V. 

IN PARIS— SEEING THE SIGHTS. 

©UR hostess is a French lady, of course — it is the fashion 
to be French in this city — and not being French, we 
are out of the fashion, and must appear awful green 
to our neighbors, especially to our hostess, who understands 
no English. What a time we have with her, trying to make 
known our wants ! And often in her perplexity she hurries off 
to a millinery shop adjoining for a daughter who speaks a little 
English. James, our guide, who lives somewhere in the region 
above us, often gives a helping tongue between us and our 
hostess. We are compelled, likewise, owing to our dependence 
on the said James for a tongue, to keep together in our excur- 
sions through the city. 

We are going to take an out-door ramble to-day. James 
being a little corpulent, and filled with a pardonable pride in the 
fact of his exaltation as guide and interpreter to five distin- 
guished (?) Hawkeyes, is not pleased with our economical habit 
of footing it so much; but he is informed that it would be en- 
tirely foreign to our ideas of things to do otherwise, save when 
it suits us ; and so he yields to the inevitable. 

On the Place Vendome we take a momentary survey of 
the graceful column that rises up out of the center of the square. 
It was erected to commemorate Napoleon's victories over the 
Austrians, and is cast out of the cannon captured from them. 

(45) 



46 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

In 1871 its predecessor, erected in 1810, was torn down by the 
communists. In this same square took place some of the fierc- 
est fighting of that period. 

Passing on to the Place de la Concorde, we notice on the 
Strasbourg statue — one of the eighty-five that adorn that scjuare 
— a garland of flowers, and ask the wherefore of it. ''You see," 
said James, "that mourning crown also ; it is all in token of the 
French people's grief at the loss of Strasbourg, taken from them 
by the Germans in the late war. The French covet their lost 
treasure, and will never rest until they have it back." Before 
us is the Obelisk of Luxor, erected upon the spot occupied by 
the guillotine in the Reign of Terror, and where not less than 
two thousand persons were decapitated in that awful shedding 
of innocent blood. It was upon this spot that Louis XVI. and 
his queen, Marie Antoinette, were beheaded. It is now one of 
the prettiest squares in the city, and said to be the most beauti- 
ful in all Europe. It is situated between the garden of the Tuil- 
leries and the Champs Elysees, and would need to be exceeding 
beautiful to excel these last named places. One would need to 
forget the tragic occurrences of the past, not to feel a thrill of 
pain mingling with his appreciation of the beautiful in the Place 
de la Concorde. 

Opposite the Palace of the Louvre is to be seen another 
reminder of the tragic events that have taken place -.within the 
walls of Paris. "From the top of that church tower," said James, 
pointing to an old stone church across the street, "was given the 
signal for the Bartholomew massacre in 1572, and on that bal- 
cony" — pointing up to a balcony of the Louvre Palace — "stood 
the queen mother of Charles the IX. to witness the massacre." 

Being so near the Palace of the Louvre and the Tuilleries, 
we conclude to end up the day in an investigation of the 
museum and halls of paintings which they contain. These 
Palaces were joined together under Napoleon III. They are 
solid granite structures covering, with the enclosed court, an 
area of sixty acres. The artist and the antiquarian will please 



IN PARIS— SEEING THE SIGHTS. 47 

exercise their patience a little longer, and excuse us a descrip- 
tion of what we find in these grand old halls to-day. 

Those who have read the history of the "French Revolu- 
tion" will be interested in a visit to the place where stood in those 
days of terror the old Bastile. Taking a little steamer on the 
Seine, we run down the river a couple of miles to the Austerlitz 
bridge, and thence a short walk brings us to the Place de la 
Bastile. The tall Juliet column rising 155 feet up out of the 
center of the square marks the place of the Bastile from a dis- 
tance. The old Bastile, where languished for years so many 
victims of French ferocity, no longer stands. The people be- 
coming exasperated at the outrages perpetrated within its walls, 
finally rose up in July 1789, and demolished it. The column in 
the center of the square was erected in memory of the six hun- 
dred and fifteen who fell in the assault and capture of the Bastile ; 
and in the crypt beneath are deposited the remains of those who 
perished at that time. One may ascend to the top of the col- 
umn by paying the old veteran in charge a small fee; and it is 
well to do it, as we can testify from experience, for the sake of a 
very fine view of Paris. 

Our quiet man astonishes us with the information that 
the ministry has fallen, and also that there are extensive cata- 
combs under Paris. His first statement is a little alarming, 
considering that our company is four parts ministerial, and we 
look around to discover the Judas in our midst; but other state- 
ments follow which reveal the fact that it is the M. Grevy crowd 
that is meant. How serious this may prove we know not ; but 
we are glad, at least, to know that our ministry still stands the 
test of Parisian wickedness. 

"But the catacombs," says H , "Fm interested in 

them." They are open to the public on the first and third Sat- 
urdays of each month; and this being the third Saturday, we 
may enter to-day. Our whole party is eager for this under- 
ground experience, for none of us had so much as dreamed that 
catacombs existed at Paris. 



48 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

With our factotum, James, puffing along at our sides, we 
make for the river and take a little steamer up stream about a 
mile and land near an old Roman castle, the "Palais de 
Thermes," where we have planned to entertain ourselves until 
the afternoon. This old fortress, now converted into a museum 
of antiquities, dates back to the time of the Csesars. It has 
undergone a renovation by some party anxious to preserve what 
was yet left of this relic of the old Roman occupation. In the 
court yard is an old stone-curbed well out of which, it is said, 
Roman governors had drunk. The whole building is now used 
as a museum of antiquities, pertaining largely to the 14th and 
15th centuries. We become acquainted, by means of certain 
things we see in the museum, with some very peculiar and 
laughable customs of those feudal lords of the 14th and 15th 
centuries, which will not bear description in these pages. 

And now for the catacombs! We must be on hand by one 
o'clock or be left out altogether, for there are many others be- 
sides ourselves to go in to-day, and the crowd will not wait. 
A hundred or more people are already on hand lighting candles 
for the journey, when we arrive. Government officials lead the 
way, and in Indian file we take our way down the long, winding 
steps. There are ninety-one steps in the descent. At the bot- 
tom, about forty-five feet below the surface we come to a long, 
narrow gallery, wide enough for two to walk abreast. Follow- 
ing this about ten minutes, we come to a hall where the roof is 
borne up by two pillars. From this hall we pass into a great 
charnel house of the dead. Here, stacked up on each side of 
the passage, in artistic shape, are the bones and skulls of six 
millions of dead. These were gathered during and since the 
Revolution from the various old churchyards around the city. 
To the right and to the left, as we pass along, other dark pass- 
ages lead ofif, each with a chain stretched across it, to prevent 
wandering from the main passage way, and each walled up 



IN PARIS— SEEING THE SIGHTS. 49 

with the relics of the dead. We feel ourselves vastly in the mi- 
nority in this dismal chamber, and behave ourselves accord- 
ingly. 

Three-quarters of an hour brings us to another flight of 
stairs by which we ascend eighty-two steps to daylight again. 
Originally, these catacombs were quarries, from which much 
of the stone now in Paris buildings was taken. Abut seventy 
staircases in different quarters give access to the catacombs. 
They are said to extend under one-third of the city. 

The famous tapestry factories, founded by Louis XIV., 
are well worth a visit; and we find it quite convenient to visit 
them on our return journey this afternoon. The carpets and 
rugs manufactured here are real works of art. Here we see the 
artist, in weaver fashion, putting pictured scenes into his work 
and making them look as fresh and beautiful as the painter does 
his work on canvas. There are one hundred and twenty of 
these artists, each one averaging not more than i^ yards per 
annum. These tapestry factories are still under government 
management, and the product of the looms is used chiefly for 
presentations to foreign courts. It would cost from thirty to 
forty thousand dollars to buy almost any of the specimens we 
saw. "Think I'll not patronize this factory when I order my 
carpets," said the silent man, who betrays his matrimonial in- 
clinations in unguarded moments. 

H has seen some military service, and, although a 

man of peace both by profession and disposition, he sometimes 
walks with a very martial tread and foe-defying look in his eyes, 
when the French soldiers are marching by with colors flying 
and a fine band of music in the lead. As we are taking a ram- 
ble one day outside of the fortifications we discover a fine op- 
portunity to get upon the ramparts. It affords us a magnificent 
promenade, and we follow the works along for some distance, 
until we come to a point from which we can look upon the drill 
movements of a company of soldiers. 



50 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



Watching them for a few moments, we make the discovery 
that our presence is causing somewhat of a commotion clowii 
below. We are evidently taken for an enemy, and an officer 
makes a charge; but my military friend is equal to the emer- 
gency, and gives the approaching official a military salute which 
"right about faces" him. "Now, then, as general command- 
ing this scaling force, I order a retreat," says H , and re- 
treat it is. 




TOMB OF NAPOLEON I. 



Versailles is most easily visited from Paris, and as we are 
loth to leave the city without first seeing this most beautiful 
and interesting of all the suburban towns of Paris, we resolve on 
a visit thither immediately for we are now meditati-ng a depart- 
ure from the French capital. A distance of twelve miles, a 
half hour's ride on a suburban train, brings us to the palace and 
park of this old home of royalty. Before entering the palace, 
we pass on beyond through the wooded park to the Chateau 
of Marie Maintenon, a court mistress of Louis the XIV. Here 
are the private apartments of Napoleon I., with bed, furniture 



IN PARIS— SEEING THE SIGHTS. 51 

and bath, all as he left them, we are told. Here also the room 
in which Marshal Bazaine was tried and condemned on account 
of his conduct at Metz. A visit to the coach house follows. 
Here are kept the State carriages used by Louis XIV., Louis 
XVI., Napoleon, Josephine and Marie Antoinette. 

Passing back again through the park, we view the gardens 
and wonderful fountains at the rear of the palace. The palace 
itself, exteriorly, is royal in looks as well as dimensions ; a mas- 
sive stone structure fourteen hundred feet in length. It was orig 
inally intended by Louis XIII. as a hunting chateau. Louis 
XIV. converted it into a palace for the kings of France. It 
was completed in 1672, after eleven years of toil upon it. The 
genius of man was forced to struggle against nature in the con- 
struction of the palace and gardens surrounding it. Rivers 
were turned from their courses that the waters might be con- 
ducted to the fountains. All the arts vied with each other in 
their zeal to carry out the design of a palace which should be 
the most splendid of all royal residences. Forty millions ster- 
ling — it is said — were expended in the work. 

Louis XVI. with his queen, Marie Antoinette, resided here 
until the unhappy pair were taken to Paris at the beginning of 
the Revolution in 1792. It was Louis Philippe who conceived the 
idea of making the palace a great national art gallery of paintings 
illustrative of the military glory of France. Here, therefore, we 
find one of the finest collections of war paintings in all Europe. 
Eleven large halls are filled with them. The battle of 'Abd-el- 
Keder," by Horace Vernet, occupies a space about 20 by 40 feet. 
Another painting representing the crowning of Napoleon and 
Josephine in Notre Dame, is alone worth the visit to Versailles, 
if one be as near as Paris. The painting is by David, and $20,- 
000 — it is said — was the price paid him for its execution. But 
it would far exceed the limits of this chapter if we were to tarry 
long enough in our description to tell the half of what is of in- 
terest to the student of history and art in, and around, this grand 



52 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

old palace. It proved to our company the most interesting 
day's tour of all those we had taken around Paris. 

The contemplative man of the party has a mood on him 
to-night as we sit in solemn conclave touching the matter of 
routes on to Rome. He has suddenly taken it into his head to 
depart from the course of travel previously laid out, and take 
a short cut by night express to Rome, via the Paris and Mont 
Cenis railway. We object to night travel over such scenic 
routes, and moreover have planned to see southern France and 
travel over the Rivieras by the Lyons and Mediterranean Sea 
coast route. But our moody member must have his two months 
in Rome, whilst some of the rest of us are equally determined 
on only one month; and hence it comes that we leave Paris a 
divided company, for a season. We have yet some good com- 
pany left us in H , as we take our journey southward the 

next day for Marseilles. We are ticketed second class to Na- 
ples, our tickets allowing us to break the journey at any point 
we desire. The excursionist finds these circular tour tickets a 
great convenience. Our letters of credit have lost a value of 
one hundred and eighty-six francs each — about $36.25 — by rea- 
son of these tickets. These letters of credit, too, are another of 
the traveler's great conveniences; he never has to carry much 
money with him. If robbed, he has his letter of credit, which 
would be useless to the robber, to fall back on. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SOUTHERN FRANCE; AND THE FRENCH AND ITALIAN 
RIVIERAS. 

♦fl/^ OW, farewell, thou gayest of cities! We care not to 
II* ft know more of thee than what we see outwardly reveal- 
ed ; for we are fully satisfied that bitter misery and vice 
untold lie hidden in thy bosom. Farewell frost and snow ! Ye 
must travel fast if we do not distance you now for months to 
come. Thus we think, as we roll out of the Lyons depot south- 
ward bound. 

We have determined to break journey first at Fontaine- 
bleau, which is reached in an hour anda half. The forest, famous 
for its dark evergreen beauty, with an area of 64 square miles, is a 
part of our scenery for some time before reaching the town. 
Fontainebleauisagem set in the midst of great beauty of natural 
surroundings. Like Versailles, it was planned for a royal resi- 
dence, and used as such as early as the 12th century. The 
palace and surounding forests are objects of general interest 
and we find ourselves thrown into the company of quite 
a large crowd of tourists as we leave the depot for the 
palace. A government official takes charge of the company 
as we enter the ground. He is French, we are not ; and as we 
pass through the various departments we lose much of the in- 
formation which he imparts to others — who are mostly French 
— touching the historical associations of the rooms. The oblig- 
(53) 



54 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

ing fellow does his best in a few words of English now and 
then for our specal benefit. We learn that there are nine hun- 
dred apartments in the palace, each of which is kept sumptu- 
ously furnished. 

Much of interest connected with the life of Napoleon I. is 
centered in some of these rooms. There is the table on which he 
signed his abdication, covered over with glass to protect it from 
the relic hunter. In this hall the public first learned of the 
decree of divorce from Josephine; and here again is the room 
in which Louis XIV. signed the revocation of the edict of 
Nantes. In the principal court, called the cour des Adieux, 
Napoleon took his leave of the remnant of the old Guard who 
had followed him through all adversity up to the time of his 
departure for Elba. This scene is commemorated in a fine 
painting, "Les Adieux des Fontainebleau," seen in one of the 
galleries of the building. 

A portion of the afternoon is spent in the forest park ad- 
joining. Here are lakelets with waterfowl swimming around, 
flowing fountains of exquisite design and skill, and walks 
adorned with a profusion of flowers. The beat of the drum 
and the music of military bands resound through the forest, 
for the French are getting ready to whip the Germans for the 
insult to their arms in 1870. 

We resume our journey at 11 o'clock p. m., and next morn- 
ing, as we look out into the growing dawn, we discover that 
we are approaching Macon. At this point we strike the Saone 
river and follow the valley to Lyons, where the Saone unites itself 
with the Rhone. We pass now through the famous Burgundy 
wine region ; and freight train and river boat alike are all loaded 
with hogsheads of wine. The valley through which we ride 
to-day is one vast vineyard. 

"See," said H , "the peculiar method of vine trellis- 

ing. They have planted trees in regular order and dipt the 
tops of them, so that the vine does not lose itself in a mass of 
Umbs and foliage. It's a novel idea certainly to hold an um- 



SOUTHERN FRANCE. 



55 



brella over your vine to keep the too fierce rays of the sun 
from spoiHng your growing" grape." 

From our guide books we discover that the town of Aries, 
just ahead of us, has some interesting antiquities which are 
worth a visit. "Aries!" cries the gare man, and we are left 
standing on the platform while our train rolls on to Marseilles. 
There is only one passage otit of these French gares, and that 
is guarded by the man who wants to see your ticket. Rail- 
way custom in this country is to see your ticket when you 




AMPHITHEATRE, ARLES. 

go to the passenger platform to take your train, and when you 
leave the platform to enter the station. The gares, or stations, 
are all fenced to keep out intruders. 

We find a Frenchman who is familiar with our mother 
tongue, having been a soldier in otir country during the war of 
the Rebellion, and with him set out to investigate the sights. 
Aries is the oldest looking town we have yet seen. It used to 
be the capital of Gaul, long years before Paris had an existence. 
A very ancient looking building on the banks of the Rhone is 
pointed out to us as an old residence of Constantine the Great. 



56 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

Portions of the walls of the old city yet remain, and upon these 
have been built the newer walls of the modern city. Here is 
an amphitheatre said to date back to the time of Titus. It is 
quite a perfect specimen of an old Roman amphitheatre; and 
here on the Sabbath gather crowds to witness bull fights. The 
arena has the usual elliptical shape, sixty yards in length, 
and is possessed of wonderful acoustic properties. Sending 
our guide to the farthest end, we talked to him in the lowest 
possible tone, and were distinctly heard in all we said. In 
this very arena the gladiator has fought; and men have en- 
gaged in deadly combat with hunger - maddened animals. 
Yonder at the main entrance, on a level with the arena, are 
the open doors of the dens from which these animals rushed 
upon their human victims. Above the den corridors are the 
seats, ranged in terraces up to the height of forty feet, and ac- 
commodating about 25,000 persons. 

The next day we take our leave of this interesting old town, 
and move on to Marseilles. "What are those dark green look- 
ing trees of which we see whole orchards?" I inquire, as we 
speed along; but I have asked too hard a question of my friend. 
The tree is a stranger to us both ; but later on we find it is the 
olive. It gives an added beauty to the landscape scenery such 
as we have not before seen in France. Now for a distance 
we are swinging around the limestone clififs, suddenly 
emerging into a plain and passing into a long avenue 
of evergreen trees, then a sudden plunge out of daylight into 
darkness, and a mile of tunnel brings us to the city by the sea. 

Marseilles has the reputation of being the oldest city in 
France; founded, we are told, 600 B. C. by a Grecian colony 
from Phocea, yet it does not wear the appearance of such ex- 
treme old age. Poor Marseilles! She has been woefully 
afflicted in times past by her enemies. Hannibal, Caesar, Visi- 
goths, Burgundians, Ostragoths, Saracen, each in turn has 
had a bone to pick with her. Forty thousand out of her ninety 
thousand people perished by the plague of 1720-1. There was 



SOUTHERN FRANCE. 57 

a mutual dislike between Napoleon and the city because his 
wars interferred so seriously with her commerce; and she was 
made to suffer the common fate of all who crossed his ambi- 
tion. Since the conquest of Algiers in 1815, and the opening 
of the Suez Canal, Marseilles has entered upon a new era of 
commercial prosperity. Its population is not far from 400,000 
at the present. 

After a night of rest at the "Grand Marseille," we are 
ready to see what may be of interest about the city. "That 

hill," observes H , "would be a good point from which 

to take our first view of the city, if we could only manage to 
scale it." The hill referred to was a tall cone rising up 550 feet 
or more next the sea, with sides so precipitous that it gave 
promise of some sweat of the brow before it could be made to 
yield us the desired vision. Crowning the top of the hill is the 
cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde, with a tower running up 
148 feet with a colossal statue of the Virgin, 30 feet high, holding 
in her arms the infant Christ. 

We are repaid for our toil in climbing this hill by the beau- 
tiful panorama of sea and city which lies spread out before us. 
There are two ports, one of which runs up into the city and 
out of which rises a forest of masts. The smaller sail vessels all 
crowd into this port. The large ocean steamers have a dock 
and port of their own farther out; a slice, as it were, cut out 
of the sea, and walled in by an immense stone breakwater, 
which forms a splendid promenade. 

We visit an old chuixh on our return, St. Victor. It 
stands, it is said, over the burial place of an old martyr. A 
priest in charge asks if we would like to go down into the 
crypt, and being answered in the affirmative, gives us lighted 
tapers and tells us to follow. He astonishes us with the infor- 
mation that Lazarus and Mary Magdalene are both entombed 
in these dark vaults, and points out their sepulchral chambers 
to us! 



68 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

A Sabbath of rest in the city, and we are ready for another 
stage of our journey. What pleasure we anticipate as we move 
on eastward, halting here and there as suits our fancy, to enjoy 
the delicious climate, and see the luxury in which these south- 
ern Europeans are indulging themselves. A range of lofty 
limestone hills shuts ofif the sea view until Frejus is reached ; 
and now the railway closely hugs the sea shore, often-times 
plunging through a mountain of rock rather than separate itself 
from the water. 

Toulon is reached; and now, delightful vision! We see 
the orange orchards, laden with their golden colored fruit, much 
of it ready for the market. Cannes, our first halting point, 
I20 miles from Marseilles, is a beautiful looking town of some 
19,000 people. A hotel is found — the Louvre — which affords 
us substantial comforts at a dollar a day. 

Our first ramble is to the top of Observatory hill at the 
back of Cannes. A fine carriage way, by innumerable loups, 
leads up the ascent of 800 feet. Past hotels, villas and pensions, 
most of them with orange groves in their front yards, the way 
leads; shaded here by resinous trees, adorned there by flowers 
in hues of every color, with as balmy an air as mortal need to 
breathe in. We were not astonished at our friend's burst of 
enthusiasm when he said, "Surely this is as much like Paradise 
as anything I will eyer see this side of the heavenly one." 

A magnificent view presents itself from the observatory. 
To the south is the sea, specked with sail and steam craft. 
Between lies Cannes, stretching for a mile and a half along 
its shore, beautiful with its villas and dark green orange yards. 
Out on the bay of Jouan is the Isle of St. Marguerite, with Rich- 
elieu's fort, where Marshal Bazaine was confined, and where 
also the ''Man of the Iron Mask" had his prison home. To 
the north are the villages of Cannett and Grasse, famed for their 
perfumery manufactures. To the far northeast the white tops 
_of the Maritime Alps cast down a frigid stare at this tropical 
luxurv. 



SOUTHERN FRANCE. 59 

An afternoon ramble on tlie beautiful Corniche Road by 
the sea completes our sight-seeing at Cannes. In the evening 
we meet some American friends whose acquaintance we had 
formed at Marseilles. From one of these gentlemen, a press 
representative from Michigan and a personal friend of the 
American Consul at Jerusalem, we are kindly furnished with a 
letter of introduction to United States Consul Gilman, of Jeru- 
salem. 

Nineteen miles farther on is Nice, another winter resort for 
Europeans. We leave our tram again at this point for a few 
days' touring. The population of these Riviera resorts varies 
according to the season. In the winter season Nice is said to 
have a population of 100,000. The season is just commencing, 
and visitors are pouring in by every train. Even consump- 
tives from Illinois, Iowa and other western states are met with 
here. 

Good pension board and lodgings may be obtained at two 
dollars a day in Nice. Our first ramble is with a crowd of 
ramblers on the Promenade des Anglais. This handsome 
drive and walk, 85 feet broad, stretches for two miles along 
the sea shore, and is the work of the English in 1882 in order to 
furnish work for the poor during a season of scarcity. 

"What are those women killing?" said H , as we 

noticed a number of them at the water's edge pounding some- 
thing quite vigorously. "Trying to kill the dirt in their soiled 
linen," I answer, "judging from the victims already laid out on 
the pebbly beach." Sure enough! No washing machines 
here, save that which was created when Eve was fashioned. 
The linen is laid upon a smooth stone, soaped, hammered with 
another stone and then dipped into the sea, until the process 
is complete, when it is spread out on the clean pebble stones to 
be dried by the sun. 

Three days of pleasant life are enjoyed in rambles along 
the river Paillon, among the olive and orange groves, and to 
neighboring heights ; and we turn away regretfully, fearing lest 



60 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

we may not find as we journey on such paradisiacal towns. 
Nice is the native town of Garibaldi ; and here, too, Lyte, author 
of "Abide With Me," has found a resting place. 

Fifteen miles farther on is Mentone, the last of the towns 
on the French Riviera at which we shall have the pleasure of a 
stop. Monte Carlo, famous the world over because of its 
gambling hell, is passed, and we soon catch sight of the white 
villas of Mentone, as they rise up from the tops and terraced 
sides of the cliffs bordering on the bay of Mentone. The fine 
Corniche road clings to the sea closely all the way from Cannes 
to Mentone, and is often preferred to the railway by tourists, 
who desire to prolong that exquisite sense of pleasure which 
one feels in this region. 

Mentone is both old and new. The old town sits upon the 
top of a rocky hill which juts out into the sea a distance, forming 
two bays. The streets of the old town are mediaeval in look, 
narrow, filthy and crooked. It wears a shattered look, for it 
is hardly a year since an earthquake tried to get rid of the 
old tov/n by shaking it off into the sea. But the newer portions 
of the town stretching along the sea for three-fourths of a mile 
on either side of the old, more than redeem, by their beauty, the 
uglier features of the old. 

We have exhausted the week in the enjoyment of this pleas- 
ant semi-tropical climate and scenery, and we look about us 
to see what the Sabbath has in store for us. "Truly we are in 

luck," remarks H , as he comes in from his inquiries 

with a beaming countenance. "Mr. Spurgeon, of London, is 
wintering here at the 'Beau Rivage,' and holds service for the 
few personal friends who care to visit him at his hotel." "But 
the service is not public, you say; only for personal friends, 
and we have not that honor," I answer. The difficulty is solved 
by sending a note to Mr. Spurgeon asking permission to attend 
the morning service, and a cordial invitation to do so is sent us. 
In the morning we find ourselves, with about a dozen others, 
in the parlors of the "'Beau Rivage," and take a gospel feast 



SOUTHERN FRANCE. 61 

from the lips of the gi eat preacher. "The American brethren 
present" are remembered in his prayers, and are invited back 
to a communion service in the afternoon. This proves a day 
of sacred privilege to our souls, and one long to be remembered 
in the years to come. 

"Surely," said H , as we were toiling up the terraced 

side of the "Caravan," "these people are inclined to follow 
Scriptural injunctions in reference to their house building ; 
built upon rocks, and set high above flood mark, they certainly 
are." The morning is perfect, and a ramble of several miles 
out an]ong the olives — now in the fruit season — and the lemon 
and orange groves, with the music of pouring waters rush- 
ing down from the Apennines to the sea, the songs of the birds 
in their leafy retreats, all in melodious harmony, fill our spirits 
with delight and make us wish to dwell forevermore just where 
we are. 

But time moves, and so must we ; and the next train bears 
us on towards San Remo, our next halting point, i6 miles dis- 
tant. At Ventimiglia we cross the border between France and 
Italy; and here our baggage must undergo inspection. 

San Remo in itself presents little of interest to the visitor. 
As a health resort it has some advantages over the other towns 
of the Rivieras, by reason of its sheltered position. Crown 
Prince Frederick, of Cermany, is wintering here in the hope 
of final recovery. The chief attraction of our visit is the ascent 
of Mt. Bignone 4,235 feet above the sea level. A narrow cobble- 
stone way leads by a gradual ascent for four miles to the village 
of St. Romalo, 1,700 feet above sea level. This part of the 
journey is made through a constant succession of olive groves, 
the way winding around like a serpent up the sides of the hill. 

"What in San Remo is that coming!" said my friend, 
startled out of his usual composure by seeing a huge black 
bundle moving towards us. "That," I answer, "is a Mt. Big- 
none porcupine: see how his quills stick out! It will be wise 
to let him have the right of way, for he takes it all, anyway." 



62 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

But as the bundle nears us, we observe a donkey's long ears 
sticking out and two pairs of hoofs close to the pavement. 
Yes, it's a donkey, with a great bundle of pine cones on his back, 
destined for the San Remo wood market. 

A narrow path leads up from St. Romaic 2,500 feet higher, 
and after much sweat of the brow, we at last stand upon the top 
of our Pisgah as delighted with our view as ever Moses could 
have been with his view of the Promised Land. This view 
has been described by travelers as one of the finest in Europe. 
Seven towns are in sight; to the northward,with two lower ranges 
intervening, are the snow-crowned Alps, while a look in the 
opposite direction reveals a wealth of tropical vegetation. 
Winter and summer are each facing each other with this bald 
ridge as a dividing line. The vision, to be appreciated, must be 
realized in personal experience; for a traveler's description only 
mutilates the fair scene. 

Genoa is our next halting place, and a few days of stay here 
results in an experience which renders the narrative of our 
visit altogether uninteresting to the reader. We would like 
to have seen the town of the "Great Christopher Colombo" 
under other and more favorable circumstances, but the Alps 
paid no heed to the pilgrim's desire and sent their sharp winds 
whistling down the Pass, sending him to bed for a few days. 

Only one more halt before reaching Rome, we think, as 
we board our train at Genoa. We could not pass Pisa, of 
course, and therefore when our slow train comes into town 
at the edge of evening we sever company with it and take to 
a hotel. 

Pisa! yes; guides by the score looking in upon us through 
the windows as we sit at our morning meal. Beggars! yes, 
a few ; not more than a hundred at a time, each anxious to help 
you carry your superfluous wealth. We ask the landlord if 
there is not some back door way of stealing away from the 
impecunious crowd. "No"; he has put a high wall around his 
premises to protect himself from this same crowd. We sally 



SOUTHERN FRANCE. 



63 



boldly forth and sling our noes and our — well, never mind 

to right and left, and finally reach the Leaning Tower, only 
to be sold out by a fellow of another sort, who passes to the 




THE TOWER OF PISA. 

top with ns under the pretense of making a company sufficiently 
large to be allowed that privilege. Up a circular flight of stairs 
of easy grade we go until we stand on the top, 183 feet from 



64 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

the ground. If it were not for the knowledge that the old 
Tower has thus stood, eleven feet two inches out of its per- 
pendicular, for over seven centuries, we would most certainly 
feel that we were on the point of coming down in worse shape 
than Darius in his parachute excursion. 

The cathedral, next in order, is a work of the eleventh cen- 
tury, and is interesting enough to pay for a visit; but we will 
yet meet with others as interesting, and so pass on to the Bap- 
tistry. It presents some novel features of architecture. It is 
circular in form, with dome roof, in circumference 361^ feet, 
in height only three feet lower than the tower. Its acoustic 
properties are its most marvelous feature. At a hundred yards 
distance the lowest tone of the voice may be heard. The most 
unmusical note or tone of voice seems to resolve itself into 
a symphony, and is caught up, echoed and re-echoed around 
the room and carried to the dome. Two hours of sight-seeing 
this morning in Pisa is enough, and we take a forenoon train 
for Rom.e. An eight hours' ride through an uninviting, marshy 
looking country, and under cover of night we enter Rome. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE SEVEN-HILLED CITY— JUBILEE WEEK IN ROME. 

" I am in Rome ! Oft as the morning ray 
Visits these eyes, waking, at once I cry, 
Whence this excess of joy? What has befallen me? 
And from within a thrilling voice replies, 
Thou art in Rome ! The city that so long 
Reigned absolute, the mistress of the world." 

SO^IEWHAT of the poet's feeling takes possession of 
ourselves as we look forth from our window, on the 
first morning of our arrival, upon this once proud 
mistress of the world. The day is the Sabbath, bright and 
clear, and we take our way to the Scotch Presbyterian church 
to see if the "faith once delivered to the saints" is yet kept in its 
freshness and purity in this once ancient city, from whence 
emanated so much of the light that now illumines so large a 
portion of the Gentile world. The pastor, Dr. Grey, is now 
absent in America in the interests of his mission; but we heard 
from Rev. Mr. Purvis, who ministers in Dr. Grey's absence, 
one of those sermons for which the Scotch Presbyterian clergy 
are noted, both simple, pure and thoroughly orthodox, our- 
selves being the judge. 

Besides this mission there are missions of the Baptist, 
English and American Methodists and Church of England, 
together with the Italian Free Church and Waldensian church. 
They are all but a drop in the bucket compared with the Church 
of Rome. She is dominant here with a vengeance. Her 
churches are both numerous and rich. The finest works of 
3 (65) 






"^ 









V}T 









was^' 



THE SEVEN-HILLED CITY. 67 

marble sculpture and paintings of the old masters are gathered 
together to adorn and enrich the hundreds of Romish churches 
in the city. She numbers her priests by the thousands, and 
just at present we might without exaggeration say, by the ten 
thousands, for the Pope's Jubilee festivities have gathered them 
in from all parts of the world. And more than this; she has 
planted here schools of learning for the youth of all nationali- 
ties, and is training in them a priesthood destined for all parts 
of the world. Next to soldiers and tourists, the most numer- 
ous class of people one sees on the streets is the black and red 
robed Romish student. The students of the different schools 
are distinguished by the color of their robes. The dififerent 
orders of the priesthood are distinguished in like manner by 
colors of white, brown, blue and black; the purple is seldom 
seen on the street. With our strongly anti-Romish education 
we were not prepared to see any good in the Church of Rome; 
but in our peregrinations through her churches, and witnessing 
of her worship and influence upon the people, we are not so 
certain but that, partly purified as she is, her influence is mani- 
fold better than no religious influence. Indeed, we think that 
it is owing to her influence rather than any other that the 
city is as orderly as it is. One is ready to laugh at the super- 
stitious feelings and beliefs of the poor people, but for all that 
there is a restraining influence in these same things that is a 
positive benefit to the community. The name of Christ is 
reverenced in Rome as nowhere else, and the dififerent apostles, 
Peter and Paul more particularly, have shrines and churches 
almost innumerable erected to their memories. 

Modern Rome is not the Rome of Paul's day. The gospel 
that he wrote and preached has left an ineffaceable impress upon 
the people. But God is worshipped through man, instead 
of being approached direct, and in so doing more or less of 
the worship cleaves to the man. No! Rome is not pure; nor 
is the Protestant church pure; it is only a question of degree, 
and the blacker of the two sheep may yet be made as white as 



68 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

the other by the cleansing power of the same Master. Rome 
presents a variety of contradictions. Founded about twenty- 
six hundred years ago, she presents a wondrously modern 
appearance. There is nothing to remind the visitor, unless he 
happens along at some of the unburied ruins, that he is in a 
city fbimded over seven hundred years before Christ. A new 
Rome, has grown up over the grave of ancient Rome. 

Under the beneficent rule of Victor Emanuel I., not only 
Rome, but the whole of united Italy, has entered upon a career 
of wonderful prosperity and improvement. Whole squares of 
beautiful buildings have been erected, and others are in process 
of construction. Even old Rome in her ruin is contributing 
to the present prosperity of the new by here and there unbos- 
oming herself for the contemplation of the visitor, multitudes 
of whom are drawn hither by mixed motives of curiosity and 
study. The Roman art galleries are equaled nowhere else in 
the world. And where can one fine such a stupendous ruin as 
the Coliseum, or one around which so much of tragic interest 
centers? Which "on its public shows unpeopled Rome." What 
sights have been here witnessed of gladiatorial combat, of bloody 
and unequal contest between man and beast, of the rending of 
innocent martyrs by hunger maddened animals! 

But while we are making these general observations con- 
cerning Rome we are reminded that an expensive hotel may 
not be indulged in if we would protract our stay to a month. 
To see Rome in less than a month is to see her very imperfectly, 
and put a slight upon her that she does not deserve. 

We are in as sorry a predicament in our attempt to com- 
municate with the natives here in Rome as we were in the 
French capital; but we have been drilling ourselves in the 
object method and have made some progress in the art of pan- 
tomimics, so that when our tongues fail us we are. not left 
without a final resort. Rome is so filled up with strangers 



THE SEVEN-HILLED CITY. 69 

drawn hither by the attraction of the Pope's Jubilee occasion, 
that it proves no easy matter to find accommodations in such a 
quarter as we prefer. 

Our friends who have preceded us are comfortably located 
in a convenient and pleasant quarter of the city, but there is 
room for no more of us there. We prevail on one of our hotel 
waiters to go with us to some friends of his in the eastern part 
of the city, on the Esquiline Hill, where we succeed in settling 
ourselves quite to our liking. For a furnished room, with 
morning and evening meals for two, we pay thirty dollars for 
the month. Those who read this record, and who may, perad- 
venture, visit the Eternal City, need not expect to be served 
with very elaborate meals at these rates, nor need they expect 
a central location in the city; but for ourselves we were abun- 
dantly satisfied in both these respects. 

But, reader, there was one experience that fell to our sad 
lot in those humble quarters which, whilst it does add the spice 
of variety to a Roman pilgrim's life, is really not essential to 
one's happiness. The noisy creakings of H 's iron bed- 
stead during the night made me conscious that my fellow pil- 
grim was not enjoying the situation very well; and something 
in my own enabled me to keep careful vigil over my friend's 
movements. 

"Friend," I at length ventured, "life in Rome does not seem 
to be agreeing very well with you. "True," he groaned, "Roman 
life, or some other kind of life, is proving a disturbing element to 
sweet dreams to-night. But," he added, as he sprang out of 
bed and proceeded to light a candle, "I'm badly mistaken if 
there is not more than one of us in this bed to-night; it feels 
lively enough to have a thousand of us, more or less." A care- 
ful search for his supposed bed-fellows revealed nothing, how- 
ever, and he returned — not to rest — but to continued tossing. 
The sleeper in the other bed is keenly alive to the situation, 
and has planned a night attack on the enemy. With candle lit 
he awaits in silence the proper moment, and falls suddenly 



THE SEVEN -TIIIJ.ED CITY. 71 

upon the camp of the enemy, and joyfully exclaims as he at- 
tempts to seize a foe, "I have him!" "Can't be possible," comes 
from the other bed, "for he is still over here." 

What a time we have with our Italian host, who speaks 
no English, to make him understand that the omnipresent pulce 
must be ejected at once, or we must abandon his room. With 
the co-operation of our host and a pharmacist of the city we 
put to flight our foe after a struggle of two or three nights. 

It is not all sunshine in Italy, as we can testify from our 
experience thus far. There has been more of cloudy weather 
and rain than sunshine, until we begin to fear that even a 
month of stay will not suffice for the outdoor studies we are 
here to make. The rain has fallen in such quantities as to 
raise the Tiber to flood heights, and a portion of the city in the 
neighborhood of the Pantheon has been under water. But 
no serious inconvenience has been felt on acount thereof, for 
it is an old trick of the Tiber to which the natives have become 
fully accustomed. 

New Year's day, however, comes and goes in bright sun- 
shine. It is the inauguration day of the Pope's big show. For 
months past preparations have been making at the Vatican 
and elswhere, to make the week commencing January ist a 
gala day for the Romish Church. The rulers of the earth have 
contributed of their gold and silver in pure coin, and in various 
other forms fashioned by the jeweler's art, enough to make the 
solemn Papal countenance wreath itself in smiles. If gold and 
silver can make a person happy, Leo XIII. must be very happy 
at the present time. The gifts which have been sent and 
brought in person are estimated at a value of .$40,000,000; and 
he is in his 77th year. Poor man ! We would not blame him 
to be very importunate for the return of his youth. High mass 
is to be said in St. Peter's this New Year's morning by the 
Pope in person for the first time in nineteen years. Being 



72 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

desirous of seeing and hearing as much of Papal doings as we 
possibly can during our brief sojourn, we turn our steps 
thither. 

Alas for human hopes in this particular; we are doomed 
to disappointment! Everybody else in Rome appears to have 
this same object in view, and soon we are wedged in among 
a countless host of human beings in the great square in front 
of St. Peter's. A line of soldiers is drawn up at the foot of the 
steps leading up to the portico to prevent any farther crowding 
of the steps and portico. 

The vast Cathedral is already full, and it accommodates 
90,000 persons, allowing two and a half square feet to the per- 
son. A throng of people equally as large surged up and down 
the square and the two streets leading out of it, intent on gain- 
ing admittance to the great sanctuary. After lingering awhile 
in this state of turmoil, the line of soldiers in front gives way 
to the right and left, and then every solid foot of space in por- 
tico, steps and square in front is occupied. Another line of 
soldiers stand ranged close to the five vestibules leading into 
the church, and ingress is barred. The service within is con- 
cluded while the multitude yet linger on the outside. 

And now comes the tug of war; those inside wanting out, 
and those outside still wanting in, the two multitudes stand 
facing each other. The tall red-plumed policemen, numerous 
as they are, seem powerless to do anything. At this point of 
affairs the military take matters into their own hands, and 
ranging themselves in ranks two deep across the whole end of 
the Cathedral, gently and good-naturedly push the entire mul- 
titude before them, until portico and steps, with a portion of the 
square, are cleared. 

It was like a great wave of the sea, that mass of rolling 
humanity in its retreat before the glittering bayonets of the 
soldiery. Priest and plebeian, tourist and titled aristocrat, all 
jumbled up together, with a common feeling of respect for the 
bright steel in the rear. 



THE SEVEN-HILLED CITY. 73 

So ended our vision of the Pope's high mass. But we try 
another experiment in the afternoon with better success. The 
New Year vesper service in St. John's Lateran is advertised 
to be of an unusually interesting character, and thither we go 
in time for a good position in this one of Rome's most beau- 
tiful churches. It is here that all the Popes for the last fifteen 
hundred years have been crowned. It is supposed to have the 
keeping of the heads of Saints Peter and John under its high 
altar, and lights are kept burning around the altar during the 
day in their honor. The vesper service proved of a highly in- 
teresting nature. The "Te Deum" in which the vast congre- 
gation joined at certain points was truly inspiring, enough so 
to raise even a phlegmatic tempered person into the third 
heaven of enjoyment. After vesper service we pass over to 
the "Scala Santa" building and watch the score or more of 
persons piously creeping up the stairs on their knees and kiss- 
ing the steps in a very devotional manner. "Why all this?" 
you ask. Because these are the sacred stairs taken from 
Pilate's Judgment Hall, and down which our Saviour came 
after his cruel scourging and mock coronation ; so, at least, we 
are told. 

Martin Luther was once ascending these steps, and when 
about half way up he suddenly rose to his feet and walked down. 
He seemed to hear a voice, he said, whispering to him that "the 
just shall live by faith." 

Everywhere we turn in Rome we are met by just such 
examples of credulousness on the part of the people of the lower 
classes. Illiteracy is the foundation upon which such credulity 
is built. St. Peter's has a most goregous high altar beneath 
which the headless relic of the Saint is said to rest. It is mar- 
velous how the Romish Church succeeds in palming ofif such 
fictions upon the people. It is extremely doubtful whether 
Peter ever visited Rome or suffered martyrdom there; and yet 



74 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT, 




THE SEVEN-HILLED CITY. 76 

place after place that we visit both inside and outside the walls 
of Rome is traditionally connected with some event in the great 
Apostle's life. 

Portions of the old Mamertine prison of Paul's day are yet 
found at the foot of the Capitoline, on its eastern side. Tliese 
cells are doubtless genuine, for they occupy the known site of 
the old prison in which St. Paul languished, and are both 
gloomy and far enough under ground to dispel all idea of fiction 
in the matter. In visiting these cells one day, with a monk as 
guide, we were shown the imprint of Peter's face in the stone 
wall, made, we were told with the greatest of gravity, by the 
jailer pounding the Apostle's head against the wall. "What 
barbaric methods of photography they had in those days," 

remarks H . "And what a flinty face the fearless Apostle 

must have had, too," I answer, "to make such an impression as 
that upon the wall." 

Epiphany day in Rome, a day of noise and a babel of 
confusion. Where shall we go to get out of it? The monarch 
of cathedrals on the Leonine side of the Tiber has not yet been 
visited under favorable circumstances, and we resolve to turn 
our faces in that direction for the day. 

St. Peter's is, with one exception, Rome's greatest wonder. 
Its vastness of interior area is not fully realized on a first or 
second visit. Everything is of such huge proportions that it 
is only by a study of comparisons that we come to acquire any- 
thing like an adequate idea of the vastness of things. Look, 
for example, at that cherub with half-folded wings; it seems 
but the marble form of a lad two or three years old, as we view 
it from this short distance: but approach and measure by com- 
parison with your own stature and you find it taller by two 
feet than yourself. As you stand at the portal, look down at 
the end of the nave to the high altar, and the men and women 
appear like small school children. 

As we pass down the nave on this Epiphany day, about 
mid-way we notice a group of Catholic pilgrims, gathered 



76 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

around the large bronze statue of St. Peter, kissing the great 
toe of the Saint! That is the pleasant occupation in which all 
are most eager to take part. Just imagine the scene if you 
can. There sits the Saint in the pontifical chair with right foot 
extended, the great toe of which is kissed by each pilgrim, and 
then fondly touched by his forehead. The children are lifted 
up for their osculatory performances; the short-statured jump 
up on tip toe, while those of a somewhat finer mold and sen- 
sitive stomachic organization gently wipe with their hand- 
kerchiefs toe and foot before performing their own devotional 
act. "Surely that sort of thing would grow monotonous to 
the poor Saint if he were possessed of sensibility," remarks 
H , as we turn away towards the high altar. 

Over the high altar is a canopy supported by four twisted 
bronze columns fifty feet in height. This canopy is topped with 
a cross. The railing around the altar is adorned with 112 
cornucopia, supporting as many silver lamps, which are kept 
burning during the day. A double flight of marble steps leads 
down to the reputed tomb of the Apostle. 

We next take our way to the dome. The ascent is made 
from the interior by an easy grade of steps up to a height of 
440 feet above the pavement. From this height we get the 
best possible view of Rome and surrounding country. The 
eye as it looks southward falls upon a wide stretch of Campagna 
presenting much the appearance of an Iowa prairie view, 
through which the yellow Tiber may be traced almost to its 
mouth. The city lies spread out in grand panorama to the 
east, and leading out in a southeast direction are the old and 
the new Appian ways, making towards the Alban Hills, which 
we see bordering our vision farther on. 

Let the visitor who goes to Rome not neglect to view the 
city and its surroundings from the dome of St. Peter's. It was 
a happy experience with us. 



CHAPTER VII I. 

RAMBLES IN AND AROUND ROME, 

EPIPHANY day, January 6th, is children's day in Rome. 
Toys and sweetmeats are dispensed in commemora- 
tion of the Magi's visit to Bethlehem and presentation 
of gifts to the Savior. Booths in great numbers for the display 
and sale of all articles that tickle the fancy or please the taste 
are erected in arcades and other available places on the day 
before. And such a display of this sort of goods we have never 
seen before. 

The day is given up to enjoyment, and everybody and his 
friends go out in holiday attire to mingle their noise with, and 
feast their eyes upon, the gay crowds that are surging up and 
down between the long lines of gorgeously decked booths. If 
you want to know how much noise there is to the scjuare inch 
in the average Italian, just present yourself in Rome on Epiph- 
any day. The din of the shouting booth-keepers, the tooting 
of tin horns — and every small boy seems to have one — the beat- 
ing of petroleum cans and characteristic loud talking of the 
people, all make a perfect pandemonium, lasting until after 
the midnight hour. In the matter of noise it is expected that 
on this day everybody may make as much as he pleases, with 
none to ask the wherefore of it. 

The whole city has been in holiday attire for a week past, 
owing to the countless throng of visitors that are here to sec 
and take part in the festivities of the Vatican. And truly the 

(77) 



78 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

elements have been propitious, for this week alone since our 
coming has been in any degree pleasant for out of door touring. 
But now the excitement of Jubilee week is over, and as our 
fine weather gives promise of continuance, we can settle down 
to our usual occupation of sight-seeing. 

The Vatican exhibition remained open for a few days and 
then closed in order to perfect the arrangement and classifica- 
tion of the Pope's presents. And now Pope Leo may drink his 
wine out of golden chalices, a new one each day, for the next 
five years. The numerous presents from the crowned heads 
of Europe, together with President Cleveland's remembrance, 
have served to elate him somewhat, if his utterances on this 
subject be sincere. He professes to accept it as an evidence 
that his supremacy is recognized by the world, and expresses 
the belief that the Holy See will soon regain its lost hold upon 
Italy. To us that day appears far distant when the Papal 
Church, in its present corrupt form, will regain its power over 
the minds of the people. The foolish beliefs which, for ages, 
it has palmed ofif upon the people, do not meet with the cre- 
dence they once did. But, in its reaction from the papacy, 
Italy is fast coming into that state of no religion which has in- 
volved France in so much misery for so many years. The 
great need of Italy to-day is missionaries of the evangelical 
faith who can use the Italian tongue in public discourse. If 
such were planted, not only in Italy, but in the principal cities 
of Papal Europe, a great harvest of good, we think, would soon 
be the result. 

Upon the Palatine hill we wander through the deserted 
halls, underground corridors and the once regal apartments 
of Csesar, Tiberius, Caligula, Domitian, Commodus and Sep- 
timus Severus, and through various temples, the work of their 
hands, and remember that these majestic but melancholy ruins 
are all that is left of their builder's pride and might. Once 
these very halls through which our solitary feet are roaming, 
were thronged with the couriers of those who were called 



RAMBLES IN AND AROUND ROME. 79 

masters of the world. Here, on this spot, the assassin's dagger 
finished the career of Caligula. The whole hill, the one upon 
which Romulus founded his city, is given up to these historical 
ruins. Passing from thence to the Coelian, we find it largely 
given up to vineyards and tombs. Here we find the tomb of 
Tacitus, the historian, and but a short distance from it the 
tomb of the Scipios, which is one of the many catacombs in and 
around Rome. In the same vineyard with these tombs are 
two columbaria of special interest. The columbaria differ 
from the tombs in this particular, that they were designed 
to receive simply the urns containing the ashes of those who 
were burned, and consist of a number of niches cut in the walls 
for the urns. In these columbaria mentioned are found the 
names of several members of Caesar's household who are men- 
tioned by Paul in his epistles. The names are Tryphena, Try- 
phosa; Romans 16:12, Onesimus, Col. 1:7, Philemon, 1:23. 
From other inscriptions found in these columbaria it is certain 
that they were those used for the burial of the freedmen and 
servants of Csesar's household; and Paul speaks in Philemon 
I :i3 and 4:22 of certain converts of the palace. 

Not so certain are we of the next place we visit. It is the 
place, according to Romish tradition, where Domitian at- 
tempted to boil the Apostle John. A little round chapel 
just inside the walls at the end of the Via Latina marks the 
place. 

In this connection it may be of interest to know that 
some frescoes of 14th century origin were discovered a few 
years since bearing inscriptions which when translated were 
found to relate to the Apostle John; one lengthy inscription 
being a letter from the Pro-Consul of Ephesus to Domitian 
concerning the heretical zeal of the Apostle, and his success in 
turning the people away from the "worship of the immortal 
"•ods," and asking the advice of the Emperor as to what should 
l^e done with the offender. Then follows this inscription 
quoted entire: "As soon as Domitian had read this letter, being 



80 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

enraged, he sent a rescript to the Pro-Consnl, that he should 
put the holy John in chains and bring him bound to Rome, 
and there assume to himself the judgment according to the 
imperial command. Then the consul, according to the imperial 
command, bound the blessed John, the i\postle, with chains, 
and brought him to Rome and announced his arrival to Dom- 
itian, who, being indignant, gave command to the Pro-Consul 
that the holy John should be placed in a boiling cauldron, in 
presence of the senate, in front of the gate which is called the 
Latin gate, when he had been scourged, which was done. 
But, by the grace of God protecting him, he came forth unin- 
jured and exempt from the corruption of the flesh. And the 
Pro-Consul, being astonished that he had come forth from the 
cauldron annointed but not scorched, was desirous of restoring 
him to liberty, and would have done so if he had not feared 
to contravene the royal command. And when tidings of these 
things had been brought to Domitian he ordered the holy Apos- 
tle John to be banished to the island called Patmos, in which he 
saw and wrote the Apocalypse, which bears his name and is read 
by us." 

Passing out of the city at the Sebastian gate, we enter upon 
one of the most interesting rambles that can be taken outside 
the city walls. It is over the Appian Way, Paul's road into Rome 
when he came as a prisoner the first time. We were favored with 
a beautiful day for our ramble, and we passed over the road 
a distance of about five miles. The way is interesting, both 
because of its sacred associations and the ruins which line the 
road on both sides ; but to Paul, if he were traveling the road at 
the present day, it would doubtless look gloomy enough. 

Soon after leaving the gate we come on the left to the tomb 
of Geta, the murdered brother of Caracalla, and next on the 
right the tomb of Priscilla. These tombs are all either pyra- 
midal or circular in shape, rising to a height of thirty or forty 
feet. Most of them have been standing for seventeen or 
eighteen centuries. Next of interest by the way is the church 



RAMBLES IN AND AROUND ROME. 81 

of "Domine, Quo Vadis," so called because a Romish tradition 
says that Peter, in fleeing from Rome, met the Saviour at this 
point and asked him, "Domine, Quo Vadis?" and was answered, 
"Venio Iterum Crucifigi," whereupon Peter returned to his 
doom. The exact spot (?) where the Lord stood is now 
marked by a round stone. 

Passing several unknown tombs, we come to the tomb of 
the one supposed by some authorities to be that of the famous 
Raven which, in the reign of Tiberius, was so much of a favorite 
because of the homage he w'as accustomed to pay to the Emper- 
or and Druses, that when killed by a shopkeeper near the Forum, 
received a very pompous public funeral. There are numerous 
catacombs both to the right and left of the road. They all 
present the same general appearance, underground chambers 
for the burial of the dead. In this respect they are unlike the 
catacombs under Paris, for these did not originate in quarries, 
but were made for, and were used only for, burial purposes, 
There are said to be not less than sixty different catacombs 
around Rome. The old Romans had a queer custom of bury- 
ing their dead by the sides of their most noted roads. In Paul's 
day the Appian Way was the most celebrated road into Rome, 
coming from Brundusium, now Brindisi, and entering Rome 
on the south. 

The most perfect of the tombs existing in the space we 
traversed are, first, the round fortress-like tomb of Cecilia 
Metella. It was erected in 79 B. C, and like the tomb of 
Hadrian within the city, has been utilized as a fortress in years 
gone by. It is a massive structure 70 feet in diameter and 
about 100 feet in height. Before reaching this tomb we come 
to the tomb of Romulus, son of the Emperor Maxentius, 
who died A. D. 300, and close to it are the remains of 
the circus consecrated by Maxentius to the memory of his son 
ten years after his death. To the right of the road, about a 
mile further on, are the three tumuli of the Curiatii, marking 
the place where the combatants fell. From this point on, 



82 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

looking ahead of us, the road makes its way straight as an 
arrow, until we see it climbing the western slope of the distant 
Alban hills. The author of "Rambles in Rome" claims that 
the site of the Appii Forum and the Three Taverns lies at the 
ninth mile stone from the Porta Capua within the walls. In 
this, however, he is contradicted by some other authorities, 
which locate it at the forty-third milestone. From this ramble 
we return to the city over the new Appian Way, crossing to the 
Latin Way to examine the Painted Tombs, a recent discovery. 

Another day we take our way to "St. Paul's Without the 
Walls," not the largest, but withal the gem of all of Rome's 
beautiful and costly churches. The original church, destroyed 
by fire in 1823, was erected by Constantine to commemorate 
the martyrdom of St. Paul. It has been restored on a scale 
of magnificence almost bewildering. Internally it is one vast 
hall of marble work. The four pillars that support the altar 
canopy are of pure alabaster, and the altars at each end of the 
transept are of malachite, the gift of the Czar of Russia. A 
marble staircase leads down to the crypt under the high altar, 
where the relics of Paul and Timothy are said to be entombed. 
Outside the gable facing the Tiber is done in mosaic, occupying 
thirteen years in its execution, the work of the Vatican mosaic 
manufactory. It is one of the handsomest pieces of decorative 
art we have ever seen. 

From this church we follow the Ostia road out a half mile, 
and turning to the left follow the Tres Fontanes road until we 
reach the place where, according to Romish tradition, Paul 
suffered martyrdom. The place is called Tres Fontanes, be- 
cause when Paul's head fell to the ground it rebounded three 
times, and there sprang forth from the places touched by the 
head in its rebounds three springs. Whether the place is the 
genuine site of Paul's decapitation or not, it is, nevertheless, 
worth a visit. It is situated in a pleasant little dell in which 
is a triangular shaped garden, surrounded on its three sides by 
three old Romish churches, in one of which — the one at the far 



RAMBLES IN AND AROUND ROME. 83 

end of the triangle— are the miraculous springs, from which 
we took a refreshing drink, and with a pilgrim's devotional 
fondness, regarded the spot whereon Paul knelt to receive the 
stroke which gave him his glory crown. The Romish church 
possesses a wondrous knowledge (?) in reference to such places; 
.it points out the place where Paul and Peter separated on their 
way to martyrdom, and has erected a large church upon the 
place of Peter's crucifixion. 

A visit to Rome would be incomplete without an excursion 
to Tivoli and Hadrian's Villa. Tivoli is distant from Rome 
fourteen miles, and is reached by steam tram. The iron road 
leads us through the meadows once used by Hannibal as a 
camping ground. Tivoli being situated at quite an elevation 
above the Campagna, our iron horse is under the necessity of 
making the ascent by frequent tacks upon the hill slope, in 
doing which we pass through some fine old olive groves. The 
town is visited chiefiy on account of its beautiful cascades. By 
reason of flood dangers the Anio was diverted from its own 
channel and led by a tunnel through the lofty hill on the slope 
of which the town sits, and left to throw itself down a precipice 
300 feet in height. In its descent it strikes a rock which breaks 
it into spray. It is beautiful to look upon from the bottom of 
the gorge into which it is thrown; excelled in grandeur only 
by our own Niagara, and that alone in the volume of its water. 
There is a smaller cascade, also, and a half mile distant from 
the town the spacious ruins of Hadrian's Villa; all well worthy 
of a visit. 

These pleasant, balmy, Italian days, how we enjoy them in 
our foot rambles in and around the city! We have an oppor- 
tunity in a ramble to the north of the city to-day to see how 
rapidly New Rome is springing up outside the walls. There is 
more building going on at the present time, both within and 
without the walls, than in any of the European capitals we have 
yet visited. The old Mistress of the World appears to be 



84 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

rousing herself from her sleep of centuries, and rising again into 
somewhat of her former splendor and power. 

Here and there in a dozen different places Egyptian obe- 
lisks are occupying church and public squares, numbers of 
which were brought hither and reared by Domitian, Constan- 
tine and other early Roman Emperors. Here on Monte Cavallo 
is an exquisite piece of workmanship by Phidias and Praxiteles; 
a pair of colossal horse tamers with their plunging steeds in 
marble, a present of King Tiradates to Nero. It is not certain 
whether they are intended to represent Castor and Pollux, or 
Alexander and Bucephalus. They stand in front of the King's 
palace on the Quirinal. 

Here again is an elaborate work of art in the fountain of 
Trevi. The cooling waters of this fountain are drawn through 
the Claudian aqueduct, the arches of which we saw stretching 
out toward the Alban hills on the day of our Trivoli excursion. 
Fresh and sparkling do these waters look as they come gushing 
forth from the nostrils and mouths of Neptune's floundering 
steeds, as well as from a hundred crevices on all sides, and pour- 
ing over precipices in cascade form. Take a parting draught 
and throw in a sou, for the tradition is that then the traveler 
will return to Rome, no matter what obstacles beset his path. 

Another place of pleasant resort and drive is the Pincio 
Gardens. We are reminded of Nebuchadnezzar's famous hang- 
ing gardens at Babylon as we stand at its northern or western 
side and look over the wall, a full seventy-five feet in height, 
down to the street below. 

We spend portions of several days among the ruins of the 
old Roman Forum. There is too much of Roman history con- 
nected with this mass of ruins to give it only a casual study. The 
excavated area covers an extent of about nine acres. Here are 
great marble and granite pillars, erect and prostrate, of tem- 
ples, palaces and senate halls; the triumphal arch of Septimus 
Severus, almost perfect, the Sacred Way, part of the pavement 
of which still remains, all of which carries us back to the earliest 



RAMBLES IN AND A.ROUND ROME. 



85 



beginning's of Rome's checkered history. At this spot, on the 
northern edge of the Forum, stood the butcher's stall where 
Virginius seized the knife and saved his daughter's honor by 
her death. And here in the Curtian Marsh where, according to 




IN THE FORUM LOOKING TOWARD THE CAPITOL. 



the legend, Marcus Curtius and his steed made the wonderful 
plunge into the dark chasm as a votive offering to the gods; 
and close to it is Caesar's tomb. And here again at the northern 
side is the site of the old Senate building, down the steps of 
which poor old Servius Tullius was hurled to his death. 



86 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

Upon the side of the Palatine to the south of the Forum 
are visible the ruins of the Palace of the Caesars, and farther east 
the arch of Titus, and still farther on, and to the south, we see 
the arch of Constantine, whilst at the extreme northeast corner 
of the Forum, Rome's greatest of wonders, the Colosseum, 
raises its huge proportions into view ; "A noble wreck in ruinous 
perfection," one has said. What history gathers around the 
old walls! Could they speak they would doubtless tell us of 
the heartaches, sighs and te^ars of those captive Jerusalem Jews, 
as they labored in its construction; they would tell us of the 
times when they had held an hundred thousand people to wit- 
ness some fierce gladiatorial combat or naval fight; for it was 
so constructed that the Tiber could send its waters into the 
arena. Or, they could tell us the story of that day when St. 
Ignatius was brought hither from Antioch and fed to the wild 
beasts in this very arena; or give a blood-curdling recital of 
how many others of the martyrs fought their last battles here 
and gained their glory crown. The Colosseum could give seats 
to 87,000 people and standing room to 13,000 more. There 
were eighty arches of entrance by which the building could be 
emptied in ten minutes. The Romans take a pardonable pride 
in the old ruin, and are constantly putting a clamp here, or a 
stone there, to keep time from wearing it out. 

But there is yet an object of great interest in Rome to 
which we pay a visit. It is the ruins of Nero's Golden House. 
It is found on Esquiline hill, about a fourth of a mile from the 
Colosseum. Into the dark underground halls and apartments 
wandering around in the catacombs to find one's way through 
the long halls and rooms of this once sumptuous palace. There 
a small company of us are lighted by an attendant. It is like 
are numerous apartments yet to be excavated. Our guide 
lengthens out his bamboo torch and thrusts it up to the ceilings 
as we traverse some of the corridors in order that we may see 
the height and fresco colorings; the ceilings of the long halls 
are thirty feet in height, and the frescoings are in places as fresh 



RAMBLES IN AND AROUND ROME. 87 

. as though they were but a few years, instead of many centuries, 
old. A triple portico, a mile in length, in Nero's time sur- 
rounded this vast palace, with a height sufificient to allow a colos- 
sal statue of Nero 120 feet high to stand in it. This statvie was 
afterwards removed to the Colosseum, where its pedestal is 
still to be seen. The palace surrounded a large square contain- 
ing a lake, vineyard, pastures and woods containing animals, 
wild and tame. In the palace itself the supper rooms were 
\aulted, and the ceilings were made to revolve and scatter flow- 
ers and breathe perfumery upon the guests. 

It is worth while to wander through these now silent and 
deserted halls and remember their former glory, and the might 
and royal splendor of him who built them, and learn to what 
ruin all terrestrial glories, ourselves included, must finally be 
reduced; and then, if never before, resolve to lay foundations 
upon which a temple of holy character may be built against 
which the decadence of time shall have no effect. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FAREWELL TO ROME. 
LIFE AROUND THE BAY OF NAPLES. 

ERE leaving Rome we have yet a ramble or two in which 
the reader may feel some interest. It must not for a 
moment be supposed that we have attempted to bring 
within the compass of this brief record of a month's busy life 
in Rome all that was of interest to ourselves, or which might 
have proved of interest to the general reader. To have done 
this would far have exceeded the limits necessarily placed on 
this simple record. 

We must yet see the interior of the Vatican, with its won- 
derful stores of art, as well as the old Castle of St. Angelo. Foi 
both of these places we must have a special permit, which will 
admit us on certain days of the Aveek when the visitors are 
likely to be numerous enough to warrant the use of special 
guides. Let us halt a moment on this fine old bridge as we cross 
the Tiber to St. Angelo and the Vatican. It is now the oldest, 
as well as the finest, of the bridges in use at Rome. It was 
built by the Emperor Hadrian. Its parapet is decorated by the 
figures of ten angels in marble, almost black with age, holding 
in their hands the instruments of our Lord's passion. Just be- 
yond the bridge is the Castle. With its white Paros marble 
covering and adornment of statues of gods and heroes, it must 
have stood par excellence in its original beauty. But now its 
beauty is a thing of the past. It is still majestic in its propor- 
tions, and interesting as a relic of Rome's palmier days. It was 
(88) 



FAREWELL TO ROME. 89 

built A. D. 130 by Hadrian as a tomb for himself, and as such 
it was doubtless used. Sometime in the fifth century it was 
turned into a fortress, and is now used as a barracks. Crown- 
ing its top is a figure of Michael the archangel in the act of 
sheathing a sword; the tradition is, that at the close of a sore 
pestilence Gregory the Great saw the angel standing on the top 
of the fortress sheathing his sword as a sign that the pestilence 
was stayed; hence the figure on the top. 

There is no beauty exteriorly in the Vatican building. It 
is a mass of scattered buildings resembling more a large factory 
or soldiers' barracks than the residence of the sovereign pontiff 
of the papal hierarchy. But its interior features will redeem its 
exterior ugliness. The visitor's approach is up a marble stair- 
way of such length and breadth and beauty as to make us con- 
scious that here, notwithstanding the deceptive appearance of 
things on the outside, are to be found palatial glories not ex- 
celled perhaps anywhere else in the world. Red-plumed police- 
men, the Pope's own, are scattered here and there in the halls 
and corridors to both watch and guide the visitor. When one 
remembers that according to the lowest estimate there are 4,422 
rooms in the Vatican, he will see the necessity of some help in 
his wanderings through them. 

Our first visit is to the Sistine chapel, famous the world over 
for the marvelous fresco paintings by Michael Angelo. On the 
ceilings, which occupied twenty months in the painting, are 
representations of nine Old Testament scenes pertaining to the 
creation, fall, deluge, and Hves of Noah, Jonah, and other Old 
Testament prophets. Here also on the end wall is "The 
Last Judgment," Angelo's masterpiece, requiring eight months 
for its painting. To give anything like an adequate de- 
scription of this fresco would require the half of this 
chapter. Eight rooms are devoted to the works of Raphael, 
in one of which we find his masterpiece, "The Trans- 
figuration," multiplied a thousand fold in copies throughout 
the world. In the court of the Belvedere we find the Laocoon 



90 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT, 

group, a wonderful piece of statuary, the work of three artists 
in combination. Here are long halls filled with busts, statues, 
etc., of early Greek and Roman art; Etruscan and Egyptian 
museums filled with vases, sarcophagi, and other relics of these 
ancient people. In a magnificent hall 220 feet long we find the 
Vatican library of 120,000 volumes, 25,000 of which are manu- 
script. But here we must find an end to the description of what 
cannot be described. It must all be seen, if a proper concep- 
tion of the treasures of this wonderful palace would be had. 
Leaving Rome at 8:05 o'clock a. m., we are at Naples at 

2:30 p. m. "See Naples and die," I quote to friend H , as 

we move out of the depot towards the ''Belleview," where we 
have decided on a temporary stay. "I'll not do it," he answers, 
"for I want to see Egypt and the Holy Land yet, and — well, yes, 
I think I'd like to get as far back as home before I die." "As 
to seeing Naples, I'm glad I am here, for every prospect pleases, 
and" — dodging around as he spoke some dirty lazarones who 
lay sprawled out on the pavement sunning themselves — "only 
man is vile." Truly, there are few places on earth that can 
afiford such luxury of scenery as this around the Bay of Naples. 
Under these sunny skies, and in the presence of a panorama of 
beauty nowhere excelled, life passes very sweetly, and we shall 
be loth to quit so pleasant a region for the dangers of the sea 
and the desolate dreariness of the sacred lands whither we jour- 
ney. But there is a Neapolitan side to the one of natural beauty 
which this region presents, which is not so entrancing. Here 
the cabman flourishes in all his native duplicity. He is so con- 
cerned about you lest you weary your limbs with a little walking 
that he will follow you around with argument and entreaty, and 
having prevailed upon you, by fair promises and low fare, to 
take a seat in his trap, you are fairly caught, and will not get 
leave to go thence until he has extracted from your pocket 
double or treble his legitimate fare. He understands you per- 
fectly at the beginning, but at the end he does non capisco at all. 
He is altogether in ignorance of the precepts of the moral law, 



FAREWELL TO ROME. 91 

and although in the presence of a constant reminder of how 
awful may be the pit of destruction in the other life for beings 
of his kind, he heeds not the warning of the smoking monster 
in view, but plies the next unwary pilgrim with the same sort 
of arguments, and opens his trap as complacently as though 
he was doing the most virtuous thing in the world. Avoid him 
if you can, for his ways are deceitful. 

And yet we have another type of Neapolitan character to 
describe, and although described as of the masculine gender, be 
it understood that the description applies as well to the feminine. 
His name is "Legion ;" you will find him at your elbow wherever 
you go, by night or day, in all the cities and towns which sur- 
round the Bay. The omnipresent Neapolitan beggar; his is 
a character unique and solitary. The boy and girl, the man and 
woman, old and young, of the middle and lower classes, think 
it no degradation to stoop to beggary. We are surprised at 
seeing the methods which some of the population, quite re^. 
spectable in dress, adopt to get from you something for nothing. 
In fact, it appears to be regarded as the most proper thing in 
the world to do, to draw from the foreign tourist as large a por- 
tion of his supposed superfluous wealth as is possible by every 
means and pretext imaginable. Some of the boy methods are 
quite novel as well as amusing. Only yesterday in our toui- 
across the Bay to the Island of Capri were we a witness to some 
of these novel methods. The boys in their row boats sur- 
rounded our little steamer before starting, and standing up in 
their boats -wdth hats and hands extended, joined in some kind 
of a rattHng song, at the close of which they would take up 
their collection, and then start off on another one, continuing 
this until the steamer pushed away from them. At Capri the 
same performance with an amusing variation was repeated. 
Two of the little fellows in nature's garb ofifered to plunge into 
the sea after any coins which might be dropped into the water 
for them ; this they did repeatedly, seldom failing to bring up the 



92 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

coveted coin. The sea water of the Bay, standing as it does 
over a volcanic bed, is of such transparency as to render dis- 
tinguishable objects at quite a depth. 

Capri itself is the torn remnant of an ancient volcano. It 
is distant from Naples about eighteen miles. It is quite a re- 
sort for artists, because of its picturesqueness. The main ob- 
ject of our visit thither is to see a very remarkable blue grotto. 
The only way to raech it is by sea, the clififs at this point being 
a full one hundred feet in perpendicular height. Our steamer 
goes to the spot and is met by a little fleet of row boats, into 
which we are emptied and taken into the cavern. The entrance 
is on the water line, and is so low that only in a calm sea is it 
possible for boats to enter. We lay ourselves flat in the boats 
to save our heads, and are carried in on the top of a wave into 
a spacious chamber, where a scene of marvelous beauty re- 
veals itself. The water is a light indigo blue in color, and is so 
transparent from the rays of light streaming into the cavern's 
mouth that we can s/ee far down into its depths. Our little fleet 
moves about hither and thither, the boats sometimes coming 
into sHght contact with each other as we near the farther end 
of the grotto where the light is not so brilliant. At the far end 
of the cavern we notice a man in almost nature's attire standing 
statue-like upon some rocks, and beyond him a dark opening, 
which we are told leads to another interesting part of the cave. 
The whole scene reminds us of the classic description of the 
river Styx and its ghostly boatman. 

From the clif¥ road leading from the Port tO' the town ot 
Capri one of the finest panoramic views imaginable is unfolded. 
One only mutilates it by an attempted description. Directly in 
front of us, shining white in the sunlight, is the city of Naples, 
or Napoli, as the Italian would say, rising tier upon tier like 
the seats of a great amphitheatre, while to its right, almost at 
the extreme end next to Cape Miseno, is the village of Posilippo. 
In this region is the tomb of Virgil, and the slope of the hill 
looking eastward is said to have been his farm. It is now cov- 



FAREWELL TO ROME. 93 

ered with villas and vineyards. Around the point still further 
to the westward we come to the port and town of Pozzuoli, the 
ancient Puteoli, mentioned in Paul's travels to Rome. Just 
back of Pozzuoli is the Solfatara, the crater of a still smoldering 
volcano. 

Let me stop long enough in my description to tell of our 
visit to this interesting place. The entrance is made through 
the court of a hotel planted square across a made entrance into 
a desolate basin-shaped plain of about ten acres in extent, the 
rim of the basin being the ragged rock upheaved edges of the 
old crater. At the far end of the plain a cloud of vapory smoke 
is issuing out of the hillside through an opening resembling a 
cave's mouth, whilst all around the vapory steam is issuing 
forth from every crack and crevice. Our guide crawls into the 
main entrance and brings us out samples of sulphur, arsenic 
and alum deposits. Essaying to do as the guide has done, 
viz., to creep in on our hands and knees and explore the mys- 
teries within, we are forced to back out in a nearly suffocated 
condition. There appears to be a great cauldron of boiling sul- 
phur water at some depth unknown, whence issues a strong 
current of scalding hot steam which one receives into his 
face if he lifts his head but a foot in crawling in, together 
with strong sulphur fumes which are suffocating. Tapping the 
ground in various places, a hollow sound is given forth which 
plainly indicates the hollow condition of things underneath the 
feet. Next to Vesuvius this is the most interesting object for 
a visit in all this region. 

Coming back to our description of the Bay panorama as 
viewed from Capri, looking to the right of Naples, close hug- 
ging the shore, are the towns of Portici, Resina, Torre del Greco, 
Torre del Anunciato and Castelamare, and as a background to 
them all, old Vesuvius raises his smoke and vapor crowned 
summit. Coming on around to the extreme right, the villages 
of Meta, Vito Equense and Sorrento are all visible on the cliffs 
next the seashore. It makes a picture worthy of an artist's 



94 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

skill. Mrs. H. B. Stowe has made Sorrento an object of much 
interest to visitors by her book, "Agnes of Sorrento." It is here 
that she obtains her characters and scenery for her interesting- 
tale. It is a beautiful place in itself, with its deep gorges, orange 
orchards, and cliff-crowned situation. It is celebrated also as 
the birth place of Tasso, the historian. Here Marion Crawford, 
with whose writings we are so familiar at home, resides. Sor- 
rento and Castelamare are favorite summer resorts for the Nea- 
politans, by reason of their sheltered position from the sun. 

We have made a pleasant addition to our party in the per- 
son of a young artist from Hamilton, Ont., who is enjoying 
our Naples rambles with us. The trio of us have pleasant, 
home-like accommodations with an English lady — ^Madam 
Story — who imparts to us much information concerning Naples 
and vicinity, and who furnishes us with all that is needful for the 
inner man at one dollar a day; and where dinner is taken else^ 
where, at sixty cents a day. 

From our room window at night we watch the flames as 
ever and anon they shoot up from the cone of Vesuvius. The 
desire has been growing upon us for several days past, as we 
have watched the old smoker and his nightly exhibition of fire 
works, to visit him. It is seven miles distant, as the crow flies, 
to the foot of the cone where the carriage way ends. We may 
go by carriage to the point just indicated, and then take an in- 
clined railway up two thousand feet, walking from that point 
to the crater; or we may go by tramway around the Bay to 
Portici, thence on horseback or on foot in company of a guide 
up a very gradual ascent of two thousand feet. We choose the 
latter of the two ways as being far less expensive. We lose our 
artist friend in a crowd before we have yet taken a tram car, 
and supposing he has preceded us in another car, we lose no 
time in waiting for him. At Portici we are besieged by a score 
of guides, some with horses and others without. Selecting our 
guide, we commence our toilsome ascent. 



FAREWELL TO ROME. 



95 



For a couple of miles our way leads through vineyards 
famous for the wine they produce. "Lacryma Christi" — tears 
of Christ — is the name given to the rare white wine here pro- 
duced. Several times during the course of the ascent we are 
hailed by peasants with bottles and glasses who are ready to 
satisfy our thirst and curiosity by a draught of the precious bev- 
erage. Coming up out of the vineyard region, everything 




STREET IN POMPEII. 

wears a burnt, scoried look. These black rivers of lava that 
have poured wave after wave down the mountain side have left 
everything desolate in their course. Our sole leather suffers 
fearfully as we tramp on over the rough lava. Coming to the 
foot of the cone, an ascent of two thousand feet more at an in- 
clination of about forty-five degrees through a loose black 
substance, like pepper grains, still lies before us. Here are 



96 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT, 

men with ropes who want to pull us up; but we prefer to try 
our own muscle. Up a few hundred feet we discover the artist 
perched upon the shoulders of two men, who are exercising 
their muscle in the attempt to carry him to the top. But it is 
a sorry job for them. Our friend has heart disease, and is afraid 
to exert himself. 

An hour of sweaty toil lands us on the summit, a ten min- 
utes' walk from the crater. We halt awhile to rest and enjoy 
the panorama of sea and city spread out before us. ''If the 
groaning monster beneath us should take a notion to heave, 
where would we land?" queried the artist. "It would be rather 

a rapid way of reaching kingdom come," said H . Anothet 

ten minutes of circuitous climbing and we stand on the brink 
of the awful gulf where rage the fires which have caused all 
of this desolation around us. We peer cautiously over the edge 
to discover, if we can, the depths of this cauldron wherein the 
liquid lava is boiling and bubbling. The crater is filled with a 
vapory smoke, and it is only an occasional view that we can get 
far down the sides. At intervals of a few seconds there is a 
swell and a swish, and fire, lava and red hot stones are hurled 
up hundreds of feet into the air, most of it dropping back again 
into the crater with a noise resembling the air bubbles in a pot 
of mush nearly done. Oh the horrors of this pit of destruction ! 
It makes us shiver as we stand looking down into its dark 
throat, where the panting of the restless monster is heard. If 
one would have a vivid idea of what horrors the pit of eternal 
woe may contain, let him contemplate the situation for a half 
hour amid the sulphurous fumes on the edge of the crater of 
Vesuvius. If all the furies of the pit had been at our heels we 
could not have made a more hasty retreat down the sides of the 
cone. Yes, it was undignified; but it had the merit of speed, 
and that, under the present circumstances, was more to us than 
dignity. 

As we sit in Madam Story's comfortable apartments look- 
ing out at the flaming top of the old smoker we have been to 



FAREWELL TO ROME. 97 

see to-day, it occurs to us to compare expenses of the day's 
excursion with the artist. H and I find that our joint ex- 
penditure is a Httle less than two dollars, while the artist finds 
his to be $7.50. "So much for being able to help yourself," 
says H . 

Of course, like all other tourists who come to Naples, we 
must see Pompeii. A pleasant ride of an hour brings us to 
the place. Here we fall in with half a dozen Bostonians, and 
in their company set forth to investigate the silent city. We 
pay two francs each of an admission fee, which entitles us to 
a government guide. Here, as at Rome, there is a sort of 
premium put upon Sabbath sight-seeing, many such places of 
interest being free to the public on that day, whilst on week 
days a fee is charged. 

A city, but no people; an anomaly among cities surely! 
One can hardly avoid the feeling as he passes into the deserted 
houses that he will be confronted by some of the inhabitants 
with a "Wherefore do you intrude" salutation. Its fine temples 
are no longer frequented by the worshiper; its beautiful palaces 
no longer echo to the tread of their owners; and the once 
crowded amphitheatre and places of amusement wait in vain 
for the lovers of pleasure. The little green lizards have taken 
possession of the ruins; and eye you as an intruder, or, scared 
at your presence, scamper ofT into crevice homes. The roofs 
being flat and made of wood, are all gone, broken in by the 
weight of ashes and pumice stone that buried the city. The 
walls and subdivisions of the houses remain in a marvelously 
well preserved condition. There are many fresco paintings 
on the walls as fresh in their colorings as though put on but a 
decade or two ago; many of them in rooms kept locked, which 
it had been much more to the honor of the Pompeians if they 
had never wasted time and debased art and soul in painting. 
Here in one room into which we look is the skeleton of a 
woman left by the excavators just as it was found. At another 
point we enter a bakehouse and peer into an oven out of which 

4 



98 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

was. taken, as late as 1862, eighty-two loaves of bread, reduced 
to a carbonized state, and now seen in the museums at Naples 
and Pompeii. In the kitchen of this same house a sucking 
pig- was found in the stewpan ; it also is found in the museum. 

"Surely," said H , "although the Pompeians were evidently 

very wicked people, yet they had the 'straight and narrow way' 
among them; for most of these streets are only about six feet 




BAKER'S OVEN, BREAD, AND FLOUR MILLS. 

wide. There is one street eleven feet in width, not including 
the narrow raised foot-walk on either side. In the narrow 
streets the chariot wheels, running in the same tracks for long 
years have worn deep gutters in the hard lava pavement. 

Thus passes the day at Pompeii; a novelty in the line of 
sight-seeing such as we shall not find anywhere else. We have 



FAREWELL TO ROME. 99 

enjoyed the company of our Boston friends, and together we 
journey back to Naples. Darkness has fallen over us before 
we make our start homeward, and the lamps of Posillipi, Naples, 
Torre del Greco, and Torre del Annunziata, in great semi- 
circle around the Bay, carry us back in memory to boyhood 
days, when the night fires on the prairies seemed to border the 
whole circle of our vision. It formed a picture worthy of the 
beholder's admiration. We have enjoyed Neapolitan life and 
climate immensely ; but all good things come to an end, sooner 
or later, and we are now ready for the next stage of our journey 
over a thousand miles of sea to the land of the Pharaohs. 



CHAPTER X. 

IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 

^^^HE traveler who goes to Naples — or Napoli, as the natives 
^^^ call it— and who desires a quiet English home for a 
couple of weeks or longer, will do well to look up 
Madam Story. For years she has given her attention to the 
entertainment of travelers who intend to make a protracted 
stay in the city. When we said our last good-bye to her she 
was located in a fine new building with a good sea view, at 190 
Rione Amedeo. We have made some very pleasant acquaint- 
ances at Naples, among whom are Mr. Fletcher — an author of 
some note — and his lady; Rev. Irving, pastor of the Scotch 
Free Church Mission, and his excellent wife, in whose company 
many pleasant hours of converse and visitation have been en- 
joyed. Upon all these we turn our backs with regret when we 
board our vessel for Egypt. 

Our divided company is again one, with an addition of 
three others, two ladies and one gentleman. Our steamer is 
the "Arabia," an Italian vessel of 3,000 tons burden, bound for 
Alexandria. We leave our artist friend at Capri. A delay in 
departure caused by the lateness of the mail from Rome, aflfords 
us another opportunity of witnessing the beautiful crescent of 
light that stretches to right and left around the Bay for miles. 
It is under a bright moon-lit sky, a glassy sea around us, and 
a light encircled Bay, that we draw anchor and put out to sea. 
Who that has ever left the Port of Naples under such circum- 
(100) 



IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 101 

Stances can forget the scene? It is noon the next day when 
the Lipari Islands are sighted and a light vapory smoke is seen 
issuing from the top of Mt. Stromboli; the mariner's light- 
house it is sometimes called, for its red flame can be seen at 
night far out at sea, and gives warning of a near approach to 
the Sicilian coast. At this point we make the discovery that 
our famous countryman and poet. Will Carleton, and his wife, 
are fellow voyagers. They leave us at Messina for a few weeks 
of touring in Sicily. We have a few hours on shore at Messina, 
long enough to look the old town over and lay in a good stock 
of fine oranges for the voyage; they are very cheap here, about 
five cents a dozen. 

Just after leaving Messina, to our left on the Italian coast, 
is the town of Reggio, the ancient Regium, to which Paul came 
after leaving Melita, or Malta. It is a bright looking town, as 
viewed from the deck of the steamer. A little later the smok- 
ing cone of Mt. Etna is seen in the distance, but it is long after 
nightfall before we enter the harbor of Catania, and we do not 
get as plain a vision, owing to darkness and clouds, as we would 
like to have enjoyed of this destructive giant. 

On our second day out we are passing through the 
mingling waters of the Adriatic and Mediterranean, and we are 
tossed in rough waves. The promenaders are scarce; "All gone 

to bed," H says. It is certain we are almost alone on the 

deck. "It was in these waters," I remark, " that Paul's sail 
vessel was caught by the stiff breeze coming down the Adriatic 
and drifted southward to Malta and wrecked." A look of sud- 
den intelligence shot athwart the clerical countenance of my 
friend as he exclaimed: "Now I know why Paul and his com- 
pany fasted so long — fourteen days, wasn't it? All seasick, just 
like ourselves, couldn't eat;" and as the vessel gave a sudden 
lurch to one side, nearly throwing us off our perpendicular, ht 
added: "This sea seems not to lose any of its power with age, 
for it is still strong enough to take the heart and stomach out 
of a fellow." 



102 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

We come abreast of Candia, the Crete of Paul's time, on 
the third day. It was here that Paul desired his ship's company 
to winter. The island is a rocky, barren looking one from our 
point of vision. From the lighthouse on its eastern end we 
are just one day's steam from Alexandria, so the sailors tell us; 
but in our case at least we are several hours more than that. 
It is in the early morning of the fifth day that the feathery- 
headed palm trees stretching along the shore for miles south- 
ward of Alexandria are first sighted. Glad vision it is, too; for 
we have long had our hearts set on a visit to this land of the 
Orient. Pompey's Column comes next into view, and soon we 
drop anchor in the harbor of Alexandria. We must now in- 
troduce to the reader a fellow pilgrim whose acquaintance we 
have formed on the vessel; a Hawkeye like the rest of us, and 
of such a genial mold that we forthwith adopt him as a member 
of our party; and henceforth in this narrative he will be desig- 
nated simply by his initial, R . 

What a novel scene presents itself to our Occidental eyes 
as the gang stairs are dropped for disembarkation. We are 
hemmed in on all sides by as comic a looking crowd as Euro- 
pean ever saw around him. 

There they are, those dark-hued natives of the soil, red- 
capped and turbaned, yellow, blue and white colored garments 
mingled up promiscuously, and some of them with little more 
than nature gave them to commence existence with. They 
want something, that much is very evident as we stand leaning 
over the rail contemplating the movements of the little row 
boat fleet. Down drops the landing stairs, and it is instan- 
taneously evident that we are to be boarded and taken by storm. 
The top of the stairs is guarded by seamen who use with sea- 
men's agility and energy a rope's end on the heads and bare 
limbs of the dusky crowd, but all to no purpose; some are 
halted, but others are aboard, and hand luggage is grabbed 
from our hands and dropped into boats, and the owner follows, 
of course, as soon as he can, and at the risk of an impromptu 



IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 103 

ducking must clamber from one boat into another until he 
forms a union with his captured luggage. Everybody is ex- 
cited; the boatmen shouting and gesticulating for passengers, 
and the passenger shouting his inquiries, which nobody heeds. 
Just at our side an Arab hotel runner and a boatman are en- 
gaged in a hand to hand struggle over some baggage, which is 
finally secured by the hotel man and tossed into our boat. 
When we put foot safely on land we have time to collect our 
senses, and then understand plainly that the wherefore of it all 
is, that our Arab friends are very glad to see us, and the 
demonstration is in our honor. We feel gratified, but are very 
glad it is not to be repeated immediately. 

A day suffices to see the sights of Alexandria. A guide 
who rejoices in the cognomen of "Liverpool Jack" engages a 
couple of carriages and pilots us to Pompey's Pillar; next, a 
drive along the Mahmoudiah Canal among the palm groves to 
a beautiful garden belonging to the Khedive's officers; next, to 
the catacombs, where some of the party enjoy the novelty of a 
boat ride on an underground lake; ending up with a visit to 
the Pasha's palace. Thus we pay our hasty respects to Alexan- 
dria, and are off next morning early for Cairo. 

A railway 141 miles in length connects the two cities. 
Some of us are anxious to make a closer observation of oriental 
life than we would have opportunity of doing if we took com- 
partment carriages, and so take third-class tickets, fare $2.50, 
and ride with the natives in a car with seats ranged lengthwise. 

"Look at these tickets," said H . "They look as though the 

quails with their muddy feet had tracked all over the paste- 
board out of which they are made." Our friend was alluding 
to the Arabic characters on the tickets. 

It is only the middle of February, and yet these fields of 
white clover, favay and wheat, are within a few weeks of harvest 
time. Between the novelties inside and the strange oriental 
features outside, our eyes and senses have a rich feast all the 
way. The character of the country for the first thirty or forty 



104 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




STREET IN CAIRO. 



IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 105 

miles after leaving Alexandria is flat and marshy, but there is a 
decided improvement as we near the Rosetta branch of the Nile. 

"I would like to have one of those plows," said R , who has 

been watching the fellahs in their rural occupations. "I would 
have all the museums in the country after it, for it is certainly 
the likeness of nothing else in all the upper or nether world." 

"We Americans," said H , "could improve vastly on that 

method of plowing by turning a drove of swine into the field." 
See that white, long-legged bird following the fellah in his root- 
ing operations! It is the white ibis, sacred to the god Osiris, 
and no fellah will harm him unless by accident. The people all 
appear to live in villages which thickly line the way; but for 
some reason they are afraid of the railway, and keep at a re- 
spectful distance from the stations. These villages are com- 
posed largely of low mud, or sun dried brick houses, and appear 
to have no order of arrangement. 

Our near approach to Cairo is indicated by a sight of the 
Pyramids away to our right. How natural they look! just as 
we have had them pictured in our mind ever since boyhood's 
days. But our journey is accomplished, after seven hours' ride, 
and we are dropped down in Cairo. And now we are face to 
face with another lot of our friends. 

Carriage men are few, but hotel runners and donkey boys 
are almost as thick as frogs once were on a certain occasion in 
this stricken land. The donkeys are coming at us from all 
directions, not all of them headforemost, but backed in on us 
until we are completely captured and must mount one of the 
diminutive little creatures, or stand where we are. It is all 
done good naturedly, and we have not the ill grace to quarrel 
with the poor fellows who are doing their level best to earn their 
daily bread. In this particular they are ahead of their class in 
southern Italy, who prefer to beg it rather than to give any sort 
of compensation for existence. 

R and self decide on a donkey trip to Heliopolis to see 

the ruins of the famous "City of the Sun." We go to a square 



106 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

where our friends, the donkey boys, are congregated, and as 
soon as our object is known the tail ends of a score or more 
of the httle animals are pointed in our direction. We try to 
still the tumult long enough to make a bargain, but our friends 
are so enthusiastic at our appearance that they catch us up bodily 
and set us down upon the backs of a couple of the animals. 

R , being the better looking of the two, is wanted by othe^ 

animal owners, and is hauled off his animal and set upon an- 
other, whilst I, being a modest fellow, am covered with blushes 
at such unsought honors, and hastily dismount and seek the 

pavement as a refuge. R not liking his animal, does the 

same thing, followed by a half dozen donkey men. After a 
little parleying we essay once more to mount our animals, but 
again the donkey man, ever careful lest we over-exert our- 
selves, lifts us off our feet and sets us astride a couple of the 
animals, which are not the ones we want. Despairing of over- 
coming the enthusiasm of our friends by ourselves, we ask the 
aid of a policeman, and we are soon galloping off through a 
narrow and crowded street with a couple of the blue-gowned 
donkey men running behind us plying the rears of our animals 

with a stick. But at this stage of the journey R 's donkey 

must needs make a somersault, causing our friend to make an 
unceremonious bow to the audience, not just the most graceful 
perhaps, but considering the haste with which it was done, quite 
overpowering. 

As we journey out into the country we notice the process 
of water raising from the canals for irrigation purposes. There 
are three methods in use; the ladle, manipulated by two men 
with a rope, the well sweep, and water wheel methods. Look 
at that lean looking kine, hitched to the end of a sweep and 
going round in circles! You see him in use everywhere in this 
country. He is not the ordinary Egyptian steer, but Egyptian 
buffalo, a sort of domesticated animal which has existed in 
Egypt since the time of the earliest Pharaohs. He will not stop 
at the edge of a stream to drink, but will go down into it to 



IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 



107 



wallow Now we understand what Pharaoh meant when he 
saw in his dream the "Seven lean kine coming up out of the 
water." It was only in Eg^^t that Pharaoh could have had 
such a dream. And there goes the water carrier of Egypt. 




WATER-WHEEL. 



bending under the weight of a large goat skin filled with the 
Nile water. He looks as natural as he did years ago m his 
picture Look at all these people, young and old, on the streets, 
alone the highwav, in the Arabic and Coptic villages, every- 



108 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

where you meet the common class of people, all sucking at, 
and chewing sugar cane! It is one of the main articles of diet 
with the poorer people. 

Six miles to the northward of Cairo is the site of the old 
'^City of the Sun," On, or Heliopolis. The ride to it from Cairo 
is over a fine road beautifully shaded with acacia and mimosa 
trees. En route we pass the Palace of Koobah, built by Ismail 
Pasha for his son. In this region are some fine gardens and 
plantations filled with palms, vines, orange and lemon trees; 
everything growing in rich profusion, being kept well irrigated 
by the waters of the Nile close at hand. Next we come to the 
Virgin's Tree, an old sycamore under which, if we may trust the 
tradition, the Holy Family rested for a night in their flight out 
of Judea from Herod's wrath. A little farther on and we come 
to the obelisk of HeliopoHs. Its mates— and there were many 
of them in the days when the sun worshippers paid homage to 
their god in the great temple — have all long since disappeared; 
many of them are in Rome, some in Paris and one in New York 
City. The obelisk now standing is said to be the oldest in 
Egypt. It bears the name of Osirtasen I., who was the second 
King of the XII. dynasty. It stands sixty-eight feet in height, 
six feet square at the base, made of one solid piece of red granite. 
The city itself, where Moses and Joseph, Plato and Heroditus, 
lived and studied, is only a heap of dust ruins, covering an ai'ea 
of twenty acres. The little mud village of Matareeyeh watches 
over the grave of its illustrious ancestor. 

"I think I must be rapidly nearing Paradise," said H , 

in an ecstasy of feeling, as we were taking a ramble in the 
Esbekiah garden one morning shortly after our arrival; "the 
climate and surroundings seem to indicate that perfection is 
reached in both respects ; and this garden ! did you ever see any- 
thing to equal it? Music and flowers, fairy grottos with pour- 
ing waters, lakelets, pepper and banyan trees, and trees with 
long pendant fruit like window weights, for which we cannot 
find a name. I never saw a man that was satisfied with the 



IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 109 

weather before, much less with his other surroundings, but 1 
have nothing more to desire in these respects." "Alas, poor 

man !" said R , who had seen some of the vanities of Cairo, 

and whose memory was full of donkey and dog experiences. 




EASTERN WATER SELLER. 



"I think you are growing a little too worldly minded, your mind 
— as it were — too easily captivated by the carnalities of this life. 
As for me, I'll take my Paradise where night is not made hid- 
eous by the eternal bark of these Cairo canines," "And you 



110 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

wouldn't mind leaving out the donkeys too?" I suggested. But 

R is a little sensitive on the donkey question, and so we 

make no further allusion to his humiliating experience. 

In Cairo, as in other places, we have adopted the apart- 
ment method of living, with a little variation; we run our own 
culinary department. Our cuisine exactly suits us, for we can 
purchase anything we want on the market, and our little oil 
stove puts things into edible shape in good style. Here is a 
hint for the traveler who is possessed of more ambition to travel 
than he is of money to gratify said ambition. Hotel expenses 
in Cairo would be from three to four dollars per day; whilst we 
are enjoying all that is essential to health and comfort at an 
expense of seventy-five cents each per day. The little donkey 
with his large saddle and blue cotton gowned driver furnishes 
an easy and economical method of making numerous excur- 
sions in and around the city; and donkey and driver by the day 
will cost a dollar, more if you will give it; for an Arab is much 
like other folks in this respect, he will take all that he can get. 



CHAPTER XL 

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 

^j V^f^ E are not long in Cairo until we make the acquaint- 
^^^^/^ ance of the United Presbyterian missionaries, and 
with them pass a very pleasant Sabbath. We 
are conducted through the schools, and made acquainted with 
the details of the work. Their principal building is a fine 
stone structure facing the Esbekieh garden. Under the wise 
and zealous management of Drs. Harvey and Watson, and 
the devoted labors of their wives, the Misses Smith and Thomp- 
son, and other helpers, both native and foreign, the mission is 
proving a leavening influence that is felt not only in Cairo, but 
far up the Nile and over the Delta of lower Egypt. In the 
Cairo schools are gathered over four hundred schol- 
ars, many of them out of Moslem families, who are 
willing for the sake of better advantages which the mission 
afifords to put their children under Protestant teaching. The 
missionaries tell us that there is a distinct understanding with 
the Moslem parents that their children shall be taught the 
cardinal truths of the Christian religion if they are sent to their 
schools. The natives distinguish between these missionaries 
and other so-called Christian sects by calling the former gos- 
pelers. They recognize the diiTerence between a name and 
the living religious truth which the missionaries teach and 
enforce bv their personal example. 
(Ill) 



112 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSION BUILDING AT CAIRO. 

In 1854 the United Presbyterians commence J mission 
work in Alexandria and Cairo with the view especially of reach- 
ing the large Coptic population of Egypt. The Copts are the 
real Egyptians. They have managed in some way, like the 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 113 

Jews, to keep themselves distinct as a race from the aHen bloods 
that have made Eg-ypt so cosmopolitan in its character. These 
Copts, hke the Armenians in Turkey, are distinguished for 
stronger intellectual force than the other native populations, 
and hence we find them occupying clerical and other positions 
of trust in the government, more numerously than the others. 

Their religion is Christian in name, but it has lost, by 
reason of gross corruption, its vitality. It is more nearly 
Roman Catholic than Protestant. The hig-her orders of the 
clergy are forbidden to marry, the mass is recited in the an- 
cient Coptic, which neither the priest nor the people under- 
stand. The priesthood of the church is composed of an igno- 
rant, superstitious, and for the most part, an immoral class 
of men. But notwithstanding- these lamentable deficiencies, 
it is a church which is more accessible to pure evangelical 
truth than any other of the oriental churches; and our mission- 
ary agencies have been most wonderfully blessed in the regen- 
erating efforts put forth. 

The wisdom of separating the denominations in their mis- 
sion work in Turkey, Holy Land and Egypt, giving each a 
clear field, and avoiding the evil experienced in other 
parts of the orient, of confusing the mind of the oriental 
with the different shades of doctrine, practice and name, and 
all understood to be Christian, is very easy to be seen in the 
success that has attended the work in Egypt. It was surely 
the hand of an all wise Providence that led to the withdrawal 
of our missionary force in Syria, leaving the work there in the 
hands of the Irish Presbyterians, with whom it had jointly been 
undertaken, and concentrating in Egypt. It was not until 
twelve or thirteen years of missionary labor in Egypt, full of 
trial and hardship, but with bright signs of promise for the 
future, that this measure of concentration was effected. 

The work then quickly expanded beyond the limits of the 
Delta, going up the Nile to the first cataract. The Fayoum, 
Eeni - Souef, Osiout, Assouan, and Luxor, with a large 



114 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

number of other towns and villages, a litttle removed from 
the Nile on both sides, were visited by the missionary with his 
books, in particular the Scriptures in Arabic, from the Beirout 
Mission press, and the leaven of the gospel began to work not 
only among that portion of the people who could read, but 
among the priests, and other influential persons in one way 
and another connected with the government. The Khedive 
Ismail himself became so far influenced in favor of the mission 
that he gave it its present beautiful location facing on the 
Esbekiah square, with 35,000 dollars of cash in addition. 

In i860 a dahabiyeh called the "Ibis" was put upon the 
Nile for the purpose of itinerant work between Cairo and Luxor. 
Both men and means were lacking in order to the establishing 
of mission stations at strategic points up the river; in this boat 
the sick or wearied missionary of lower Egypt could take an 
up the Nile journey, carrying with him a stock of books, and 
scattering truth wherever he chose to halt, and thus keep 
himself active whilst recruiting his enfeebled body. Many 
thousands of Bibles and other books were scattered — sold — in 
this way. Competent persons to manage schools, and act 
as lay preachers, were converted and set to work in these ca- 
pacities. Mission stations and schools grew on the hands of 
the missionaries almost beyond their ability to supply them, 
until in 1879 there was a force of 22 foreign missionaries, male 
and female, and 98 native helpers at work. Four central sta- 
tions, and 35 out stations were occupied. Two thousand pupils 
had been gathered into the schools, and 1,000 communicants 
into the church organizations. And another fact in this con- 
nection which may well put to shame the benevolence of the 
richer membership of the churches in America, the contribu- 
tions averaged more than $6.00 a member annually. 

The statistics above given are for the sake of comparison 
with those of the present year, 1896, in order that we may under- 
stand how that the showers of blessing have continually descend- 
ed upon this mission, making vis almost to realize that the latter 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 115 

days are upon us, long foretold, when "Princes shall come out 
of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God." 

The 22 foreign missionaries have grown to 42; the 98 native 
helpers to 401 ; the whole number of stations from 35 to 190. 
Out of ^iJ organized congregations, 25 of them have native 
pastors; two of these congregations are self supporting, and 
yet others will soon reach self support. The communicants 
have grown from 1,000 to 5,004; there were received on pro- 
fession alone during the year beginning April, '95, and closing 
March,'96, 577. The average attendance at the Sabbath morning 
services is 9,729. The mission has now 125 Sabbath schools, 
with an enrollment of 6,222 scholars. There are 161 common 
and boarding schools, with 10,871 pupils. Over 62,000 books 
were distributed during the year '95-96; of these 14,079 vols. 
were of the Scriptures. The total contributions by the natives 
for all purposes amounted to $47,244, an average per member 
of $9.44- 

In their poverty, in a country where a day's wage for an 
ordinary laborer does not often exceed 20 cents, these people 
have given dollar for dollar sent to them from this country. 
At Assioot there is a theological training school, and at Cairo 
a theological seminary with eleven young men in training for 
the ministry. There is also at Assioot a medical dispensary, 
with Dr. V. M. Henry in charge. Over 14,000 cases were 
treated during the year. While the patients are m waiting a 
Bible reader reads out the gospel message, and thus healing for 
the soul as well as body is dispensed. 

Now will the reader question for a moment that it was 
not the great Master's own voice who bid us enter this Egyp- 
tian field and thrust in the sickle into the ripening harvest ? 
Or will the sceptic in regard to missions, whose eye may per- 
chance scan the pages of this chapter, remain any longer in 
a doubtful mood as to whether foreign missions give any ade- 
quate return for the men and money spent upon them? We 
have only looked upon the surface, upon the visible results of 



116 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

this seed sowing of divine truth among a people that dig their 
rude plows into the richest soil on the face of the earth, and 
who would be as happy as any people on earth, if only they 
had the benefits of a Christian civilization and government. 
But who has mental vision keen enough to pierce the future 
and tell us what bearing upon Egypt's future the seed of the 
Kingdom now being scattered by so many willing, loyal hands 
is likely to have upon that fairest by nature of all lands? 

If one could only see through the intricate problem of 
government, it would require much less of the keenness of 
mental vision to tell what is to come of all this. Egypt's rulers 
are not and have not been for centuries past in sympathy with 
their grand Master at Constantinople. They long for inde- 
pendence. It is humiliating to them in the extreme to realize 
that they belong, body and soul, to a tyrant who cares for 
neither, any farther than the mercenary use he may choose to 
make of them. 

Beggared in his own domain, he sends his publicans down 
into the Nile valley to lay and collect a tribute which is heavy 
enough to crush the heart and courage out of a stronger people 
than the serfs of Egypt. He mortgages and pawns to foreign 
governments to keep himself from going into bankruptcy, and 
thus adds shame to humiliation in putting upon them the sup- 
port of a foreign soldiery whose very presence is the token to 
them of serfdom and impotency. 

This is their view of the matter; they long for the glorious 
days of Saladin, when the flag of a free and independent Egypt 
will once more float from the crest of their citadel crowned 
hill. Will Egypt be free? or will she become a part of the 
British empire? We hope the latter; for then our mission 
cause will have a protector, and Egyptian government in every 
way will be just, her native industries will be encouraged, and 
not taxed out of existence. Will the first be true? if so, will 
Islamism dominate and be the bitter foe to all that is Christian 
as it is in the realm of the Sultan proper? 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 117 

Faith in the leadership of the great host of the Church mili- 
tant must dominate in our own views of these perplexing ques- 
tions; and faith, if it is anything, is rational. There are reasons 
why we believe that the conquering legions of the Cross will 
not end their work in Egypt until the great victory which will 
lay the whole of Egypt at the feet of our Prince be won. 

In the first place, the axe has been laid at the root of Islam- 
ism in Egypt. It is dying in the presence of the more vital 
power of Christianity. Loyalty to Islamism there is none 
in Egypt, save among the Turks, who do not belong to the 
land. The Arab population hates too fiercely the oppression of 
Mohammedan rule to be very zealous in the faith of Islam. 
Education, knowledge of the Scriptures, and contact with our 
missionary agencies all through the land, have broadened their 
ideas, and tamed the Moslem fanaticism and prejudice towards 
the "infider' which has characterized the race ever since the 
days of the Prophet. It is frequently said to the missionary, 
"Oh, you are a Protestant, I can believe you.'' "You believers 
in the Book will not lie like Christians. Ah! you are not 
Christians; you are Ingleze." 

Said a Mahometan pasha to a lady principal of one of the 
Syrian schools shortly after the fearful massacres in i860 in 
the Lebanon and Damascus regions, "Madam, such schools 
as yours, where you admit all sects, will make another mas- 
sacre impossible." 

Again, our cause, the cause of Christ, in Egypt must pros- 
per because the land has been thoroughly prepared for it. 
English occupation, railroads, telegraphs, canals, and multiplied 
schools of a better grade, have stirred up the fallow ground of 
a country which, next to Greece, has stood well in the fore- 
ground of nations in its arts and sciences, its literature, phil- 
osophy, and the stronger qualities of character, courage and 
virtue. Its half cfifete systems of religion have had inl'used into 
them new life blood, the march of progress is onward and up- 
ward, and our missionary columns are in the very van of this 



118 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

movement, with the pillar of cloud, the evident token of God's 
presence, with them. The sinews of war, our sons and 
daughters, and our money, are ours to furnish; with our part 
done, why need we think of failure? 

Fact is oftentimes more wonderful than fiction ; and in the 
history of our mission work in Egypt it would be an easy 
matter to fill a volume with incidents having the variety of 
romance, adventure, the pathetic and "ludicrous, all of which 
would be true in every detail. And we shall proceed to narrate 
one, the facts of which were given us by Mrs. Dr. Barnett, one 
of our earlier missionary ladies in Egypt, an incident which 
brought to our band of workers there, in days not so full of 
promise as they now enjoy, a fuller assurance that God was 
with them, working out His purpose of a blessing upon Egypt 
by ways and means which would never have entered their own 
minds. 

It was early in the sixties, during the progress of the civil 
strife which very nearly rent in twain our national existence, 
that an Abyssinian woman and her little daughter were found 
living in Cairo, not far from the Shepherd hotel. The woman 
was dark as any of her race, but the daughter was fairer fea- 
tured, and betrayed the European blood which ran in her veins. 
She was said to be handsome. 

This woman, like Hagar of old, was set adrift with her 
daughter, her bottle of water and loaf of bread, when the fairer 
bride from over the sea took her place in the pleasant home in 
Alexandria. 

The father's wish was still law with the cast off woman, 
and though much against her own inclination, each morning 
she led the little Bamba to the girls' mission school, at that 
time under the care of Misses Dales and Hart. She soon 
learned to read and embroider in gold and silver. 

She heard the sweet story of old, how Christ came to help 
the helpless, and how His great love for sinners led Him to 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 



119 



the cross and the grave, and her own hungering heart felt the 
throb of responsive love, and she yielded to the Saviour's claims 
upon her Hfe. 

She proved herself an apt, as well as gentle, scholar, and 
as soon as her attainments warranted it, she was given the 




THE MAHAREEN BAMBA AND HER CHILD. 

position of monitress in the school. Her mother easily became 
reconciled to the situation, and no obstacle to her continuance 
in the school was put in her way. She applied herself diligently 
to her duties, both as scholar and monitress. Her teachers 



120 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

often noticed with no small degree of interest their sweet-faced, 
intelligent pupil, and had expressed the hope to each other that 
they would be able to retain her in the school as a teacher. 
Their joy had been great when she first came to them and de- 
clared her faith in Christ. 

In these oriental countries it is no uncommon thing for 
young native men to make use of their acquaintance with 
European ladies to forward their matrimonial designs by asking 
them to visit such and such places on a wife hunt for them. 
Sometimes their own lady relatives are sent upon the same 
mission. But Bamba was carefully guarded from such matri- 
monial dangers, for her teachers were bent on the accomplish- 
ment of a purpose of their own; they could not endure the 
thought of that blooming, gentle, young life being consigned to 
the dullness of harem life. 

But whilst these good teachers were planning in the in- 
terests — as they supposed — of the mission, an all-directing 
Providence was planning better things for them. The widow 
of Runjeet Singh, the lion of Lahore, king of the Punjab 
Province, India, came to England to visit her son, who was the 
pensioned guest of the British government, receiving $150,000 
a year in lieu of his inherited sovereignty over the Punjab. 
While on her visit she died after making the Prince promise 
to return her body to India and have the royal funeral rites 
performed for it, which included its cremation. A rather re- 
luctant consent on the part of the Prince was given to this, 
and he started from England en route to India via Egypt. His 
absence was only to be temporary, for he was in reality only a 
royal prisoner in England. His father, the Maharajah Runjeet 
Singh, came to the zenith of his power in the Punjab about 
1838, but he died in the year following, and his kingdom grad- 
ually went to pieces, until in '49 it came under English rule. 
The now famous Koh-i-noor jewel was once the possession of 
Runjeet Singh. On the abdication of the Prince, Dhuleep 
Singh, it came into the possession of the English, where it now 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 121 

shines the brightest jewel in Victoria's crown. Prince Dhu- 
leep Singh was brought, or came, to England. He was given 
rank next to the Prince of Wales, with whom he became very 
intimate, much to his detriment, as we shall see. 

The Prince arrived at Alexandria, where he found himself 
compelled to wait the arrival of an Indian steamer. The route 
via Suez Canal was not then open. Whilst in waiting he visited 
Cairo. He had been trained in the Christian faith and believed 
himself a Christian. He was interested in the Christianizing 
agencies which he found at work in Cairo; and the operations 
of our mission did not long escape him. He called on the mis- 
sionaries, visited the schools, and gave the mission a liberal 
donation. His spirit was under a shadow by reason of his 
afifliction and his mournful mission to India. He found the 
mission rooms a pleasant place to while away some of his 
lonely hours; he went again and again. During one of his 

morning calls he startled Mr. H by saying that he wanted 

a Christian oriental wife, and did they not have in their mission 
some young lady of good family who would make him a suit- 
able companion? 

Mr. H rallied his confused senses enough to answer 

that girls of good families were taken away from their schools 
at an early age by fearful fathers lest wife hunters should find 
them out, their prospects in life be marred by gossip about 
their beauty or lack of charms, and after they had left the 
mission, they had little influence over them, unless happily the 
parents had become Christian. 

" We have a little monitress," said Mr. H , "in our 

school who is a jewel, but her parentage would not suit you." 
The Prince looked a little confused, for he had been taking some 
sly glances at Bamba during his visits, and he replied, "I want 
a wife from your school. I do not wish an English wife, nor 
do I want one from my own country." 

Tlie ever watchful Misses Dales and Hart had not dreamed 
of danger to their monitress from the Prince's direction, and 



122 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

when Mr. H hurried to them with the news, there was a lit- 
tle volcano of excitement; but they soon discovered that it was 
a wind which was wafting them good fortune, and they went 
at once to give the Prince the audience which he had requested. 

The Prince did not need to ask, "Is she pretty?" for he had 
taken stolen glances enough to tell him this; but, "Is she a 
Christian? is she amiable, intelligent, and teachable?" 

" She is all this," they answered, "and more; but she is a 
mere child, and unfitted to take upon herself such responsibiH- 
ties as would fall to her lot as the wife of a Prince." 

"All this that you have said." answered the Prince, "Is only 
so much in her favor, and I feel constrained to ask you to con- 
vey to her my request for an interview." 

Bamba was requested to present to the Prince a piece of 
handsome embroidery, done by the girls of the school. With 
native .grace she presented it, bending low and kissing the 
hand of the Prince. No suspicion of the state of the Prince's 
mind had as yet been given her, and fearing nothing from one 
in his position, her veil was not so carefully drawn as usual, and 
as she bent she disclosed the unsuspected loveliness of her 
face. 

The Prince's heart had a true love smite, and he pressed 
his suit in true oriental style. The ladies were requested to 
make known to Bamba his wishes without delay. He left 
immediately on his voyage to Bombay. Bamba is soon in- 
formed that she has won the heart of a Prince. But she has 
no ambition to figure in such a romance; wealth or honors she 
craves not. She is contented in her humble sphere of useful- 
ness until she can be better qualified for the life work she has 
in view. The ladies plead the Prince's cause as well as they 
were able, told her of the high honor the Prince was conferring 
upon her, of his Christian character, of the happy change it 
would make in her life, how unwilling they were to give her 
up, but that her interests would make them willing for almost 
any sacrifice. They did what they could to light the flame of 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 



123 



love, but all in vain. Bamba listened to all, and then in her 
artless, simple style, made answer, "The Prince has honored 
me, but I cannot marry him, or even think of it. My life is 
consecrated ; I wish to go to the benighted people of Abyssinia^ 
my mothers country, and carry to them the light you have 
brought to us. I could not think of going to England, where 




MAHMOUDIEH CANAL. 

all is light. Oh, my ladies, I cannot do it, I cannot do it! I 
have prayed that I might live to accomplish some good work 
for my Jesus." 

The Prince was detained in India, and the ladies plead on. 
It was explained to her that God had better ways of answering 
our prayers than in the ways we often wanted them answered; 



124 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

that since it was in her heart to consecrate her Hfe to her peo- 
ple's good, God was now opening up the way to wealth and 
position by means of which others better qualified to do this 
work than herself could be sent. Sometimes she would appear 
nearly won over to their way of thinking; and at other times 
would simply shake her head and say in a most pathetic manner, 
"It is all dark." 

But at last the moment came when, raising her soft, 
tear sufifused eyes to Miss Dales' face, she said, "I have decided 
to marry the Prince." 

The Prince had given instructions that if she yielded to 
his suit, she was to be taken forthwith into the families ojf these 
ladies, dressed in European costume, servants should be em- 
ployed, and everything arranged for her in a style befitting 
the sphere in which she should soon move. She must now eat 
with knife and fork; white bread, instead of the coarse brown 
loaf she had been accustomed to all her life, should be served 
to her. Her hair was to seek the top of her head; French heels 
and pointed toes were to be the style of shoes which should 
adorn her little feet. 

The wealthy Alexandrian banker learned of the honor that 
had fallen upon his cast off daughter. He offered her the home 
she should have had from the first. Her mother urged its 
acceptance. Bamba accepted all these changes with modest 
grace, giving herself up like a piece of clay in the potter's hand 
to be molded as they saw fit. Her sweetness of disposition, 
without thought of conventionalities, made her manner and 
movements models of grace to the banker's family, and the 
society into which she was introduced. She had dropped into 
another world, a beautiful, sweet world, which seemed to have 
been made for her. 

Prince Singh on returning learned with displeasure that she 
was in her father's home instead of being with the mission friends, 
as he had intended. Several weeks, according to the English 
law governing the marriage of foreigners, must elapse before 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 125 

the Prince could claim his bride. This interval he spent largely 
in the society of Bamba, teaching her English, and gathering 
a little Arabic from her. The wedding trousseau was being 
made by the most finished artists in Paris; whilst the most 
costly jewels were being got in readiness to adorn the person of 
the modest bride. The wedding day at length arrived. It 
was said the Prince was nervous, but the little bride went 
through the ordeal of a civil marriage first, and then the cere- 
mony conducted by the English Episcopal minister, assisted by 
all of the American clergy, with a quiet grace and dignity as of 
one born to royal honors. 

Partly out of interest in the good work our missionaries were 
carrying on, and also from a feeling of gratitude to the mission 
for the part it had taken in helping him to win his sweet young 
bride, the Prince on his wedding day gave to the mission a 
thousand pounds sterling in the name of his wife Bamba. A 
friend was won; and he was a friend who proved his worth in 
those years of need when the mission sufifered from lack of 
funds occasioned by the civil war and the attitude of the Church 
on the slavery question. For many years in each balmy June 
month came the princely donation of $5,000. Here romance 
blends into beautiful history, where the hand of God can be 
distinctly traced. Since this first romantic episode in the his- 
tory of the Egyptian Mission, there have been others of the 
mission school who, though bringing no such wedding fee to 
the mission, are proving remunerative investments elsewhere 
in the social and religious life of the orient. 

The Prince took his wife to England. He had in some de- 
gree incurred the royal displeasure in marrying without counsel 
or consent of the Queen; but all was forgiven, and even the kiss 
of reconciliation bestowed upon the bride, when the Queen saw 
his fair Princess. It is said she loved her at first sight. On 
important state or social occasions with which the Queen and 
her household were connected, we are told that next to the 
Prince and Princess of Wales, position was given to our Prince 



126 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

of India and his wife. Our little Princess, in point of educa- 
tion, social culture, and general refinement, was all that her 
sphere and position required, for the Prince, when he asked "Is 
she teachable?" purposed to put these within her reach, if she 
had the talent of acquisition. She never forgot the dear friends 
of the mission, and ever spoke in deep gratitude that through 
their advice she had been enabled to realize her life ambition 
of doing good to her people in a far larger way than she had 
planned by herself. 

The Prince, in addition to the annual gift already men- 
tioned, sent out a printing press to the mission, besides loaning 
his dahabiyeh for use on the Upper Nile, so that the mission-- 
aries, by means of the printed page, schools, and preaching 
stations, might perchance open the gospel way clear into Abys- 
sinia, and thus realize to the fullest the desire of their little 
Bamba. 

It would be pleasant if we could end our story here by 
simply saying that these two lives so romantically blended to- 
gether had lived on in their happy, peaceful and honored way, 
until the grim messenger had obtruded his unwelcome presence 
upon them ; but we must follow them through trial and sorrow, 
even as we have followed them in their joys. 

Sons and daughters grew up around them for a few happy 
years. The Prince was too intimate with the sportful heir to 
the British throne. He lost his fortune in gambling; and came 
to think himself harshly treated by the government. He 
brooded over his imaginary wrongs until, in an evil hour, he 
conceived the project of regaining the province which he had 
lost in India, and also of demanding the return of the Koh-i- 
noor jewel. He sold his personal efifects, and with wife and 
daughters — his sons being in the English navy — sailed for 
India. He was stopped at Aden by an English man-of-war, 
and detained sometime. His wife and daughters were taken 



UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN EGYPT. 127 

back to England, but the Prince went on to India. Here he 
renounced the Christian faith, and employed instructors in the 
Sikh religion. 

It was his design to proclaim himself king, hoping to bring 
about a rebellion in his favor. His followers were few, and his 
project failed. England and Russia at this time were glower- 
ing at each other, and hostilities appeared imminent. The 
Prince hastened to St. Petersburg and tried to foment strife; in 
this also he was disappointed. At the Paris Exposition, 1878, 
he might have been found as a jewel merchant. 

Battling with poverty and almost crushed with her mis- 
fortunes, not the least of which was her poor husband's apostasy 
from the Christian faith, the Princess was at length found by 
one of the Egyptian missionaries, who made known her desti- 
tute condition. Her wants were immediately supplied ; but her 
health was broken, and she was soon at rest. Her faith wavered 
not, neither on her own account or her husband's. "I firmly be- 
lieve," she said, "that my husband will return to the Christian 
faith, and will yet be saved." 

The Prince married an American girl in Paris, after the 
death of his wife. But he tired of his exile, and made overtures 
of submission to the English government. He was forgiven, 
and his lands and income restored. One of his first acts after 
he returned to England, and after the restitution of his income, 
was the sending of i 1,000 to the mission at Cairo in memory 
of the lamented Bamba, and with the gift the message, "I am 
yet a Christian." Tlie Prince did not long enjoy his restored 
fortunes, but died, as it is said, in the Christian faith; thus re~ 
united and exalted to positions even more honorable than those 
enjoyed on earth, they are safe from all dangers of apostasy, 
and evermore safe from the withering influences of misfortune. 

Even as we write these lines conies the information from 
Cairo that Prince Victor, with his three sisters, son and 



128 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

daughters of Prince Dhuleep Singh and his wife, have made 
Cairo and the mission, during the last winter, a visit much en- 
joyed by the missionaries as well as themselves. It is to be 
hoped that they will take the same interest in the mission that 
their noble father and mother did. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CROSS AND CRESCENT. 

^^^HE observations we are now venturing upon do not be- 
^^^ long, chronologically, at this point in our narrative ; and 
lest the reader may think that we are venturing too pre- 
maturely upon reflections which our opportunities for observa- 
tion do not warrant us in doing, it is well to state that it is after 
these countries over which the Sultan of Turkey holds rule have 
been traversed, and in the light of the bloody transactions that 
are filling the homes of oriental Christians with woe, that we 
have set ourselves to meditate upon these things. 

Islamism and Christianity, nominal and real, are the two 
most potent factors at work in the Turkish Orient. They more 
or less dominate in all political questions. Church and State 
in the Turkish Empire are joined in a union that is indissoluble, 
save by the one force that dissolves all earthly ties. When the 
Empire of the Sultan meets the fate that it so surely deserves, 
and which must even now be at its very doors, then may we 
hof>e that the blunder so oft repeated in the history of nations, 
the effort to yoke Christ and Satan together under some form 
of state government, will be a thing of the past never to be 
repeated in the history of the future. 

Islam would teach in its very name the duty of self-surrender 
to the will of Allah, but at the same time arrogates to itself the 
earthly representation of that will, so far as others are con- 
cerned. All other sects and religions must yield to Islam, for 
5 (129) 



130 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

it alone is an embodiment of the will of Allah ; "There is no God 
but Allah, and Mohammed is His Prophet." So the Romanist 
has said, practically, in the ages past, and enforced its doctrine 
in the same practical way, by force of sword, flame or dungeon. 
It commenced with a mistaken zealot, we might almost call 
him madman; his strength enlarged, his dominions widened, 
until with the very irony of history we might say of him, "That 
fortune favored the brave," for he had conquered an Empire 
larger than that over which Rome in its palmiest days of power 
had swayed its scepter. It commenced with the sword, it has 
continued with the sword, and, if the greater Prophet of Naza- 
reth spoke the truth, it will end itself with the sword. 

But what is this modern-day Islamism with which the 
Christian forces of the East must contend yet a little season? 
It still is what it has been from its very beginning, a scourge, 
controlled by the hand of God for some wise and holy end. It 
commenced its mission as a reforming element. Disgusted 
with the image worship of the corrupted Christian Church, it 
sought to annihilate them and rear upon the ruins a system 
more pure in the worship of one Supreme Being without the 
aid of the visible. But success turned the head of the Prophet; 
the lust of power enslaved him, until the spiritual gave way to 
the carnal. He must be the founder of a dynasty both ecclesi- 
astical and civil in which, practically, not Allah but Mohammed 
must be the chief figure. Islam retains this feature of its 
founder until the present time. With all its fanaticism and 
fierce hate of everything that is not Moslem in faith, it holds 
the rod over the formal, effete, religious systems of the orient. 
It is God's scourge still to make purer and better those who 
bear the name of Christian. 

But Islamism is not a unity. It is not in Egypt and the 
Holy Land what it is in the more northern parts of the Sultan's 
empire. It is divided into more sects than the whole Protest- 
ant Church; one Moslem authority says there are 150 different 
sects in Islam. There are two great divisions in the Moslem 



CROSS AND CRESCENT. 131 

world, the Sunnites and Shi-ites, these again shading off into an 
almost infinite variety. The Mahdi and his followers of the 
Sudan are of the latter sect, and are in opposition to the Cali- 
phate represented by the present Sultan, Abdul Hamid II. As 
has been intimated in a previous chapter, the native population 
of Egypt is not the bitter, fanatical, murderous, race that is 
found in the more northern parts of the empire. Islam has 
lost its sting there; it is not a conquered foe of Christianity by 
any means, but there are forces at work which bid fair to rob 
it of its power to harm. It is no longer an aggressive, but a 
passive, force; a waning religion that bows before the purer, 
more majestic form of a true Christianity. And this is said in 
face of the fact that the largest Moslem University in the world 
— the El-Ezhar — with 10,000 students, exists in Cairo. 

Where the Cross was first raised there also the Crescent 
begins to pay its homage to the purer teachings of the Prophet 
of Nazareth. It is in large measure shorn of its political power 
in Palestine, and that is the backbone of Islamism. In Syria 
we find a weakened Islamism, weakened by educational and 
mission influences, as well as by a constant contact with Eu- 
ropean travel and commerce. It is loyal in outward form to 
the teachings of the Koran, and bemoans its apparent weakness 
in the presence of forces which it cannot banish or crush. Its 
spirit, its morality, differs not from that of the rest of the 
Levant; but its environments are restraining and destructive. 

In this part of the Levant Islamism has come into touch 
with the civilizing influences of the Western world, and it is 
impossible for it not to reahze that it is lacking in the vitalizing 
forces which it sees around it. In the Young Turkey Party, 
fast becoming an important element in Turkish politics, Islam 
is waking up to the fact that it has itself, like the effete Chris- 
tianity of the middle ages, degenerated from first principles; 
and strenuous efforts are being put forth to regain this lost spir- 
ituality. That belief in the unity of God which, in the begin- 
nings of Islam, was fundamental, has degenerated into pure 



132 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

and simple fanaticism. Predestination to good has taken a 
fatalistic turn. Islam, as a religion, has ceased to have any 
real spiritual force ; it has become nothing more than a form of 
doctrine identified with aggression and despotism. A recent 
writer in speaking of Islam, says "That the great characteristic 
of Islam which is most manifest in the dealings of Moslems with 
each other and with the world at large, is the fact that it recog- 
nizes no moral obligation of any kind. Sin is merely transgres- 
sion of statute; falsehood, deception, robbery, murder, have no 
moral quality whatever. The great mass of the Moslem com- 
munity is utterly ignorant of what evangelical Christians under- 
stand by the sense of sin." No atonement for wrong-doing 
is possible except by punishment. Forgiveness in a Christian 
sense is unknown. "In its relations to Christianity Islam allows 
absolutely no apostasy. The death penalty is still existent in 
Persia, and while nominally forbidden in Turkey, it is at least 
exile and often death for any Turk to accept Christianity." It 
is strongly Jewish in this feature, and accounts for the few con- 
verts that are made from Islam to the Christian faith. 

The Moslems of the Levant have teken alarm at the waning 
force of Islam as a religion, and as a result strong pressure is 
brought to bear upon the government from two opposite direc- 
tions. On one side is heard the demand to restore again the 
austerities of the Moslem faith, to commence a policy of repres- 
sion and extinction of the Christians in the empire. On the 
other side a progressive policy is demanded. "Islam has, and 
can still," they say, "adapt itself to varying communities and 
circumstances, and that there can be no reason why the highest 
results of European, progress may not be appropriated by Mos- 
lems." And so we find in Syria and the coast regions Moham- 
medans opening schools for the better education of their boys 
and girls, demanding railroads, telegraphs, electric lighting, 
free press, wide-spread literature, freedom of thought and wor- 
ship. But throughout the interior of his Empire we know only 
too well from recent events that the Sultan has decided on the 



CROSS AND CRESCENT. 133 

brute policy of repression and extinction of all that oppose 
themselves to Islam. He has given free rein to rapine, murder 
and brutal lust, until the voice of an outraged Christian hu- 
manity throughout the Western world is raised in indignant 
remonstrance against such cruelties practiced in the name of 
religion. But the murderous fiend pursues his policy whilst 
hypocritically giving promises of gentler and more humane gov- 
ernment. Surely there must be some truth in the old adage 
that "He whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." 

And so the struggle goes on between Cross and Crescent, 
and we anxiously look out for signs of the deliverer's coming. 
But how his feet do linger! whilst those thousands of God's poor, 
tortured, perishing children are crying "How long, O Lord, 
holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on 
them that dwell on the earth." 

Islamism is at a critical point in its history. It is on trial 
as it never has been before. A more vital force, regenerating 
and putting new life into the Christian organizations of the 
orient, has invaded its realm. In the presence of a weaker 
force, such as the nominally Christian religions of the Turkish 
empire have been, it has been able to stand, but in the presence 
of a stronger, it must go down. That fact is patent enough to 
the leaders of Islam, and in their frenzy and desperation, with- 
out any moral restraints in their religion to hold them back, 
they have gone like demons into the bloody work of extermina- 
tion. We know what the result will be; for we can read the 
future in this matter in the light of the past. Islam gains no 
converts of^ its own soil; the self propagating power of love 
is not in it ; it will perish where it is in the presence of the all- 
conquering power of the Cross. Woes untold may still be in 
store for the Christian Church, but the seed of the martyrs will 
yet bring forth a blessed harvest of good in the season appoint- 
ed by the Divine Husbandman. 

The tale with which we close this chapter, kindly furnished 
us by Miss Maggie Smith, of the Egyptian Mission, and which 
is narrated in her own language, is a prophecy of final things 



134 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

which will in a much broader, grander way gladden the hearts 
of those who follow the banner of the Cross in Moslem lands. 

Ahmed Fahiny was of a very good family. His father had 
a good position in one of the government divans or public 
ofhces, and had only one wife, who was. the mother of a large 
family. Ahmed attended our school for some time with an 
elder brother, but at the same time attended the Mohammedan 
University, El-Ezhar, with the expectation, if I remember cor- 
rectly, of being one of their religious teachers. 

In the autumn of 1875 he began to teach our new mission- 
aries, Mr. Alexander and Miss Galloway, who were for a short 
time in Cairo. He became my teacher also. Besides reading 
other books we read a chapter from the Bible each day. Of 
this he afterwards said he tried hard not to think of the meaning, 
and if any argument was brought forward in favor of Christian- 
ity it irritated him very much, so much that one day he became 
angry and requested that nothing more be said to him on the 
subject of religion. The only recourse was now to prayer. 
The chapter each day from the Bible was read without com- 
ment. After many months he began to ask questions, often 
bringing a list of questions which he had prepared. Finally 
he was satisfied as to the truth of Christianity, but did not dare 
to mention it to any one. Prejudice, too, was hard to overcome. 
He afterwards expressed his feelings in this way, "I was like a 
man cast into the midst of the sea; near me was a ship in which 
I knew I could find safety, but I felt that I would rather perish 
than be saved by that ship, which is Christ." He would rise at 
night to pray when all were asleep, and he would imagine his 
brother's eyes were looking at him. 

At this time he was in great conflict of soul, on the one 
side fear from his family and friends, the terrible disgrace he 
would bring upon himself and his loved ones, for he dearly 
loved his parents, brothers and sisters. The terrible persecu- 
tion and perhaps death that would follow; the hate that must 
take the place of fond love in the hearts of those most dear to 



CROSS AND CRESCENT. 135 

him. On the other side there was the love of Christ, and sal- 
vation through him alone. So the decision was made to take 
Christ as his portion, remembering that he would receive an 
hundred-fold in this life with persecutions, and in the world to 
come life everlasting. 

He wrote out a confession of his faith in Christ, with Scrip- 
ture reasons for becoming a Christian, but even then he carried 
this confession with him for many days before he could get 
courage to hand it over and thus make known to us that he 
was a Christian. He had gathered quite a little library of Eng- 
lish books, many of them second-hand, and he prized these 
books very much indeed; he determined that though he must 
lose all,yet he would save these books, so he began to bring some 
of them each day when he came to give the lesson, sometimes 
bringing one of his father's slaves to carry some of them. 
Finally all were brought; then he wrote a letter to his father 
telling him that he had become a Christian, giving his reasons 
for so doing, and begging him to examine into the truth of the 
Christian religion. 

Ahmed could not return to his father's house after this, but 
was taken into Dr. Lansing's family. The girl's boarding 
school and home of the single ladies and the lower chapel were 
all that had 'been built at that time of our now large, commod- 
ious mission building, and Dr. Lansing lived a short distance 
away. We were warned that there were spies about, waiting 
to kill the young convert, and every precaution was taken to 
preserve his life. He felt it to be his duty, however, to come 
to church on Sabbath, at which time he was accompanied by 
the missionary gentleman, and was wrapped up in such a way 
as to disguise himself. On the 26th of November he received 
the solemn rite of baptism. It was indeed a day of rejoicing, 
but mingled with fear. Our lesson, which now consisted in 
Bible study and prayer, was taken at Dr. Lansing's, but as 
nothing was heard from his people he became more bold and 



136 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

ventured over to the mission house for the lesson. One Thurs- 
day evening he was returning, after the lesson, and as he 
stepped under the colonnade of the house to which he was going 
he was surrounded by a number of his relatives, disguised in 
the dress of laboring men, who caught him and thrust him into 
a closed carriage, and he was quickly driven away. Some time 
passed before he was missed; search was then made for him. 
Those who saw what was done were told that it was by order 
of the government, and no one would tell if they knew about it. 
What a time of sorrow and suspense and constant, earnest 
prayer! But days passed before we bad any tidings about him. 
He was taken to his father's house, where every effort of bribes, 
threats and tears was tried to make him recant. A noted in- 
fidel was brought, named Gamal El Dien (or Dean). This man 
had* been baviished from Persia and afterwards from Turkey, 
and, I think, finally from Egypt, where he had quite a following. 
He had once come to Dr. Lansing's to talk with Ahmed, and 
we were all astonished at the way Ahmed maintained his part 
of the controversy, and we felt that God was indeed verifying 
to him His promise, "It shall be given you in that hour what ye 
shall say." This man was brought to his father's house to shake 
his faith in Christianity, and even, if possible, to make him an 
infidel, which to them would be much less disgraceful than be- 
coming a Christian. The first day after his capture eight hours 
were spent in controversy with this man; the second day six 
hours. The third day, although he was ill, he was dragged from 
his bed to argue with the infidel again, but after several hours 
he was unable to go on. At this time his mother sent for him. 
She Seemed to be dying, and begged him for her sake to repeat 
the Moslem creed, "There is no God but God, and Mohammed 
is the Apostle of God," saying, "Say it with your lips if you can- 
not say it with your heart." He was led to do this, when they 
quickly presented a paper which they had prepared as a re- 
cantation, and forced him to sign it. Then it was made known 



CROSS AND CRESCENT. 137 

to the Mohammedans that he had forsaken the Christian re- 
hgion and returned to the faith of his fathers, and a great feast 
was made in honor of the occasion. 

When the missionaries heard of his recantation they de- 
manded that he be brought before the Enghsh consul and have 
an opportunity to declare whether he were a Christian or 
Moslem. When he came his brothers were with him and were 
armed, having threatened to kill him and any who would try to 
protect him, if he still confessed himself to be a Christian. Dr. 
Watson and Dr. Lansing went to the consulate and when Dr. 
Lansing said, "Ahmed, have you returned to Islam?" he re- 
plied, "Yes," seeming not to realize that by so saying he was 
denying Christ. They sent an officer to demand his books. 
In one of them the writer inclosed a letter in which was set forth 
in strong terms the terrible sin of denying Christ. Ahmed did 
not feel that he had denied his Saviour, and the letter seemed 
to almost break his heart, as he said they had asked him to say 
it with his lips though he could not say it with his heart, and 
that they knew he was a Christian at heart. 

After this he continued to be a prisoner in his father's house, 
never being allowed to go out, except when accompanied by his 
brothers, who kept a strict watch over his movements. After 
some time he found opportunity, with the help of a slave, to 
whom he gave a piece of gold, to go out, promising to come 
back soon. He made his way to the missionaries and told 
them that he was still a Christian, and a prisoner, and then re- 
turned to his father's house where he was kept in close con- 
finement until he finally made his escape, and this time he came 
to us with no earthly possessions but the clothes he then wore. 
Once or twice his brothers, with others, visited him to try in 
every way possil)le to get him to return, or at least to go out 
with them for a walk, but he knew it would not be safe to trust 
himself to them. His favorite brother, Mohammed, had sworn 
to kill him, even if by so doing he should himself become a 
beggar. The native brethren warned him, telling him not to 



138 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

go to the balcony or even to look out of the window lest he 
be shot. They all had learned to love him, and were very much 
distressed, as they could realize better than we how cruel Mo- 
hammedans are, especially for such a crime as becoming a 
Christian. 

Soon after this when the missionary gentlemen were away 
at a meeting of Presbytery, there came a letter from Lord Aber- 
deen, now the Earl of Aberdeen, and his lady, who were then 
taking their wedding trip on the Nile. They had just read of 
this case of persecution in an English newspaper, and wrote 
to ask if they could do anything for the persecuted one. They 
hastened back to Cairo and were told by the English Consul 
that Ahmed was not at all safe in Egypt, and they offered to 
take him to Scotland, I think Lady Aberdeen paying his ex- 
penses from her own private purse. 

Judge Barringer, the American judge who then lived in 
Alexandria, who has done much to help our mission, sent 
money which was used to procure an outfit for Ahmed, and he 
was soon ready for his journey to Scotland. Lord and Lady 
Aberdeen came to the house to take him with them, Lady 
Aberdeen telling me that they would do all they could to make 
him comfortable and happy; and indeed they were the very 
kindest of friends to him. He was carefully guarded by soldiers 
from the consulate until he was safely on board ship the next 
day, when Mr. J. Giffen sent us a dispatch telling us that he 
was safe. 

After reaching Scotland he was placed in the care of the 
Rev. Burton Alexander, with whom he studied for some time, 
and afterwards Lord and Lady Aberdeen sent him to the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh, where he completed his course, and then 
studied medicine, graduating with honors. 

He afterward married a Christian lady and was sent by 
the London Missionary Society as a missionary to China. In 
a letter from the foreign secretary of that society he writes of 



CROSS AND CRESCENT. 139 

Ahmed: "Dr. Fahiny is doing earnest and faithful work at 
Chiang Chin, and seems from all I can learn to be a thoroughly 
devoted and true hearted Christian missionary." I hope that 
some day Ahmed, or Dr. Fahiny, as he is now called, may be 
able to work where he so longs to, among the Moslems of his 
own loved Egypt. 



CHAPTER XII I. 

ROUND ABOUT CAIRO. 

^^^HE intellectual trend in Cairo is upward. The English 
^^, protectorate and the multitudes of Europeans and 
Americans who make Cairo a winter residence are mod- 
ernizing influences which are telling powerfully on the oriental- 
ism of the city. The scholars in these mission schools of Cairo 
are taught the English language, and we hear verses of Scrip- 
ture and recitations in several of the rooms as we make our 
tour of inspection; and hence it comes that we are at little loss 
for our mother tongue in Cairo, for guides and a host of others 
who derive a profit from the traveler's visit have enough English 
at command to answer all practical purposes. 

To-day we had the privilege, seldom accorded a Frank of 
ordinary rank, of visiting several Zenanas and conversing, 
through an interpreter, with the occupants. The privilege was 
obtained for us by Miss Maggie Smith, of the United Presby- 
terian mission at Cairo. In making these visits we come in 
contact with two mourning assemblies whose performances we 
are permitted to witness owing to the presence of our well- 
known lady conductor. Ordinarily these assemblages of hired 
women mourners will not allow the presence of a man, for their 
demonstrations require the constant exposure of their faces-, 
and to this day the Mohammedan woman of modesty will not 
expose her countenance to the gaze of a stranger. The period 
of lamentation varies among the Copts and Arabs, being gov- 
(140) 



ROUND ABOUT CAIRO. 



14] 




< 
Pi 

PL, 
W 

X 
h 

O 



142 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT, 

erned largely by the wealth of the deceased. In the case of 
the very poorest it is continued without cessation for three 
days after the burial, and then at intervals of seven days for the 
next forty days. But in many instances where there is money 
enough left by the deceased to pay the mourners, it is kept 
up for a whole year. A widow will expend, and is expected to 
do so, her whole substance, if she be poor, on hired mourners. 
The exhibition which we witnessed to-day seemed to be gen- 
uine feelings of grief; if not, they were terribly hypocritical; 
such copious floods of tears, such slapping of faces and dismal 
bowlings and wailings one seldom hears in such combination 
outside of Mohammedan countries. We were told to-day that 
these mourning orgies were often carried on with such vigor 
and long continuance that the participants gave out from sheer 
exhaustion. 

It is Friday, the Moslem's Sabbath, and, as good people 
should, we make up our minds to go to church and see how 
the Dervishes worship. The dancers and the howlers both 
meet in the afternoon within a half hour of each other, and in 
mosques a full mile apart. We must see both, but how? is the 
question, which is finally settled by taking passage on the 
donkey express. There is nothing lazy about these donkey 
boys when they get a customer astride their animals, and the 
speed they make through the crowded streets is a constant 
terror to the rider lest some luckless Arab woman or child 
get under the feet of his galloping donkey. 

Arrived at the mosque of the dancing Dervishes we wait 
until a number of other tourists, equally as curious as ourselves, 
assemble, when the sheik of the order comes in and takes his 
seat at the head of the enclosed circular space. Others of his 
followers to the number of eleven or twelve, quickly follow and 
seat themselves to the left of the sheik. In a gallery above are 
the musicians with flutes and tambourines. The sheik and 
Dervishes rise and slowly walk around the circle three times, 
each reverently bowing to the prayer carpet, on which the 



ROUND ABOUT CAIRO. 143 

sheik finally takes his seat. All are again seated until the mon- 
otonous music in the gallery commences, when the Dervishes 
arise, divest themselves of superfluous clothing, fold their arms 
over their breasts and pass before the sheik, gravely saluting 
him, and then at a sudden change in the music slide off into a 
whirling motion, spinning around on the great toe of the left 
foot as gracefully as a top, with their loose skirts inflated with 
air. The motion is as precise as possible, their skirts not being 
allowed to touch each other. The whirling motion continues 
so long that it becomes monotonous to us, and we leave them 
at it and post away to where the howlers have already com- 
menced their exercises. 

The howlers have their tambourines, drums, etc., in the 
enclosed space with themselves. They sit in a semi-circle in 
the first part of their performance, but finally, rising to their 
feet, bend their bodies slowly back and forth in time with the 
music. These howlers are long-haired fellows, and as they 
throw their heads back and forth with the motion of their bod- 
ies, which rapidly increases in time with the music, they pre- 
sent a grotesque and wild appearance. From first to last their 
deep guttural voices are heard waxing louder and louder as 
the music and the motion of their bodies increase, until the 
whole performance becomes as exciting as an Indian war dance, 
several of the Dervishes fainting during the exercises. ''If 

you had to worship as these fellows do," said R to H , 

as we turned away from the scene, "I imagine your Cairo Para- 
dise would lose somewhat of its attraction." "A fellow's re- 
ligion to be genuinely healthy must have some physical exer- 
cise mingled with it," returned H , "and I could develop my 

religious muscle in this way as well as any other." 

But we must see the Pyramids. It will not do to ignore 
these fine old relics of antiquity any longer. They are distant 
seven miles to the westward of Cairo. We are ticketed by the 
donkey express, as usual, at a fare of one dollar each. A 
startling whack on the rear ends of our poor little animals and 



144 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

we nearly lose our heads by the sudden jerk as we start off on 
a wild gallop through the streets of Cairo. As soon as we can 

catch our breath, H remarks, "These engineers are bent on 

keeping schedule time by the suddenness with which they let 
on steam." 

At the farther end of the bridge over the Nile we are jam- 
med in with a camel train coming to the Cairo market with 
enormous loads of green white clover; the passage has been 
blocked by some camel owner getting his animal out of the 
train, and we are witness to a scene which would have ended 
in bloodshed had it occurred in America, where man is not the 
tyrant nor the servile creature that he is here. A Turkish of- 
ficial applies his rattan most vigorously to the back and shoul- 
ders of the stalwart fellow who has by some mischance gotten 
his camel out of the train and blocked the passage. We 
watched his black Araby eyes flash as the rod came down on 
his thinly covered shoulder and back; he was no coward, we 
could see that, but it was worth his life to lift a hand against 
his flagellator. 

Beyond the Kasr-en Nil — Nile bridge — we turn to the left, 
following the Nile for a mile or more along a beautifully shaded 
avenue, past the palace of Geezeh, a summer retreat built by 
the Khedive Ismail; another sharp turn to the right and we 
enter a five-mile avenue of Acacia trees leading to the edge of 
the Libyan desert where the sleepless Guardian of the Nile and 
the desert — the Sphinx — has kept his unceasing watch for fifty 
centuries. An Arab sheik living in a village close by controls 
the territory, and a tribute of two shillings must be paid him 
for the privilege of a pyramidal inspection. This fee, however, 
entitles us to a couple of his followers as guides into the cham- 
bers, and as assistants in the ascent of Cheops. 

There are quite a large number of visitors present who are 
preparing their candles for a visit to the interior chambers of 
Cheops; we therefore take our guide's advice and go over to 
the second Pyramid — Cephrenes — for a similar purpose. 



ROUND ABOUT CAIRO. 



145 



R , before whose mind floats visions of extinguished lights 

in these sepulchral chambers by tricky Arabs in order to compel 
a liberal backsliish, hints at dire vengeance if such a thing should 
occur to us; but we are all assured by the sheik's son that the 




ASCENT OF THE PYRAMID. 



days of such Arab trickery have passed. There are two en- 
trances on the north side, an upper and a lower, the upper one 
of which is the one we use in the passage to the interior. The 
descent is through a narrow passage about three feet in width, 



146 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

at an angle of about 25 degrees for the first 100 feet. At this 
point a large granite block obstructs the passage, over which 
we climb and then jump to the bottom of another passage 
which leads horizontally into a large room called Belzoni's 
Chamber. As we pass through this last chamber the dust and 
stifling air, and bats flying into our faces, make us anything but 
a pleasant experience. Belzoni's Chamber is 46^ by 16^ feet, 
with a height of 22 feet. It contains a large red granite sar- 
cophagus. There is still another chamber called the Queen's 
Chamber, to which we made a hurried visit, and then sought 
the open air. 

To get to the top of old Cheops is our next ambition, and 
for that purpose we go to the southwest corner of the Pyramid. 

R , who is not so youthful as he once was, 'takes a survey 

of the difficulties of the enterprise and concludes to tarry below 
whilst the rest of us make the ascent. "These huge old yellow 

stones were evidently not made for stair steps," gasped H , 

as we sat down panting with our exertions a hundred feet 
or so up the incline. Our Arabs go in advance of us and give 
a helping hand. At last we have the satisfaction of standing 
upon the top of Cheops, 451 feet nearer the clouds than we 
were when we commenced the ascent. There is an area of 
thirty feet square on the top. We are glad that we have had 
the hardihood to attempt the climb, for we are amply rewarded 
by the glorious vision that meets our eye. Southward about 
eight miles is the Sakkarah group of Pyramids, ten in number, 
standing on a portion of the Memphis necropolis. On the west 
nothing but a sand desert; to the east a garden of vegetation 
stretching up the Nile valley as far as eye can reach. The 
valley is only about eight miles in width at this point, being 
bordered on its eastern side by the Mokattam hills, forming the 
western edge of the Arabian desert. Cairo with its minarets 
lies spread out before us to the northeast. And down there in 
the valley is the scene of Napoleon's battle of the Pyramids; 
and in imagination we think we can see him pointing up in our 



ROUND ABOUT CAIRO. 



147 



direction and hear liim say to his veterans, "Soldiers, forty 
centuries look down upon you this day to witness your achieve- 
ments." When we have satisfied our vision we begin the de- 
scent. That horrid jump, jump, from step to step! The mem- 
ory of it will last as long as the fair vision we had on the top. It 
was a veritable "rattling of our bones over the stones" which 




THE SPHYNX. 

well-nigh put an end for several days to any farther sight-seeing 
around Cairo. 

A quarter of a mile to the southeast of Cheops is the 
Sphinx, whose stony eyes doubtless saw the Egyptian task- 
master in the days of Moses lashing the Hebrew slave to the 
fulfillment of his task, "Tliat heavenly monarch who his foes 
defy, like Vulcan powerful, and like Pallas wise," as an inscrip- 
tion on one of the paws says. The body is one hundred and 
forty feet long; its head is cut out of the solid rock and meas- 



148 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

ures thirty feet from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the 
chin, and about fourteen feet across. This head was once cov- 
ered with a wig, a part of which still adheres on either side. 
The chin was once adorned with a beard, parts of which are now 
found in the British Museum. At the extremity of the paws, 
which rtm out fifty feet from the body, is a temple tomb from 
which some fine pieces of alabaster are brought us by the two 
Arab lads who are with us. Between the paws is an altar on 
which sacrifices were offered before the Sphinx. 

We are sitting near the little hotel erected near Cheops for 
the Prince of Wales' accommodation, watching a gathering 

storm of wrath among the sheik's followers when R puts 

in an appearance from his rambles. H discovers that our 

friend has been undergoing some sort of a transformation in 
his absence, which he is not inclined to be very communicative 

about, and gently removing R 's hat, reveals the fact that 

our friend has suddenly grown bald-headed in spots. *T ran 
across an Arab barber in the village over yonder," he explained, 
"and concluded I'd have a shave, but before I was aware of 
what the fellow was doing he had made a dip or two at my 
cranium, and then he tried his hoe blade on my face with the 
mutilating results which you see." "1 think the fellow under- 
stood surgery better than he did the tonsorial art," dryly re- 
marked H . 

The sheik's followers have by this time come to blows with 
each other, and a pretty lively fight goes on for a few minutes 
until the bulky form of the sheik puts in an appearance. Too 
much backshish to-day and dissatisfaction with the sheik's 
system of distribution lies at the root of the matter. "Where 
do you suppose that huge pile of stone came from?" queries 
H , directing our attention to Cheops. "The best author- 
ities," I answer, "say from the Arabian quarries on the other 
side of the river, and the remains of the two causeways spoken 
of by Herodotus as having been built for the transportation of 
the stone from the Nile would seem to prove the statements 



ROUND ABOUT CAIRO. 149 

true." All the Ghizeh group of Pyramids were originally cased 
with polished limestone slabs, some of which we still see on 
the top of the second Pyramid. The two large Pyramids are 
the work of Khufu and Khafra, Kings of the IV. dynasty, and 
built undoubtedly for royal tombs. But our donkey boy is 
ready for the return trip; and so ends our visit to the Pyramids. 

A mile from the Esbekiah garden on the right bank of the 
Nile is Boulak, a wretched looking Arab town, swarming with 
dogs and half-naked children. But it possesses one great at- 
traction to the visitor in its fine museum of Egyptian antiqui- 
ties; the wonder is that it is not removed tO' some more central 
situation. The Egyptian archaeologist might spend days in- 
stead of hours here in interesting and profitable study of relics 
gathered from monuments and ruins in all parts of Egypt. 

And now, reader, we have brought you hither with our 
company to meet a royal personage in whom we all have great 
interest. He lost his voice over 3,500 years ago when King 
Death called on him, and he was put away with his ancestors 
in the royal tombs at Luxor. In 1881 the secret chamber of 
the Royal Mummies was found, and the Boulak museum is 
now enriched with the presence of quite a number of the Kings 
of the XVII., XVIII. and XIX. dynasties. But strip down the 
shroud covering of that mummy case, and you are looking at 
the rigid features of the King whose wrath Moses feared when 
he had slain the Egyptian. A long spare-faced man with high 
cheek bones and leather colored countenance, with a little patch 
of auburn colored hair still upon his head. You are skeptical, 
I see; but it is without question the form of old Rameses II. 
that lies before us, for the mummy case furnishes proof of it. 
And here, too, in other cases are the mummied remains of his 
fathers, Sethi I., Rameses III. and Tliothmes II. Another case 
contains the mummy of a Queen supposed — but without ab- 
solute proof — to be that of the Pharaoh's daughter who adopted 
Moses. The art of mummification reached a wonderful degree 
of perfection in those days of Egyptian glory when the trans- 



150 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

migration theory of the soul's final return to the body was 
entertained; hence the desire to preserve the body intact for 
the soul's rehabitation. In one of the rooms we visit is found 
the famous San stone dug up in 1866 at San, which furnished 
the key to hieroglyphic reading. With the aid of this stone 
and the Rosetta one, the Egyptian hieroglyph is made as in- 
telligible as any other of the ancient characters. 

"Now that I have been presented to some of the Pharaohs," 

remarked H , "I must also see what is to be seen of their 

once royal city." A railway runs along the west bank of the 
Nile from Geezeh to Asyoot, a distance of 229 miles. On this 
we can ride as far as Bedrashayn, fourteen miles above Cairo, 
and then the donkey express a couple of miles westward to 
Mitrahenny, and we are then among the mound ruins of Mem- 
phis, the capital city of the Pharaohs. 

The train goes out early, and we have the misfortune to 
miss it; but a pair of donkeys make good the loss, and we are 
olif on our twenty-eight miles' ride. For full five miles our 
donkey boy runs us at the top of our animal's speed until we can 
endure it no longer and shout for slower time. These donkey 
boys are a marvel of endurance. Our boy after his five-mile 
run behind us was as cool and fresh as though he had not gone 
more than as many rods. "Good donkey," he says, laying his 
hands caressingly upon the animal I rode; but I, laying my 
hand upon his brow, answer, "Good donkey boy." A beautiful 
forest of palm trees extends along the whole way to Bedrashayn, 
growing in clumps even among the mound ruins of Memphis. 
This once magnificent city — the Noph of the Bible — is a scene 
of desolation. So Jeremiah said it should be, and as we pass 
over its ruinous heaps we see long camel trains with pannier 
baskets slung over their backs carrying away the dust of the 
old city to enrich adjacent lands. In the midst of these ruins 
lies an enormous granite statue of Rameses II., over forty feet 
in length. 



ROUND ABOUT CAIRO. 151 

A mile or two farther on in the edge of the desert is the 
Sakkarah group of Pyramids, the work, it is supposed, of the 
IsraeHtes during the period of their bondage. The largest one 
of these is only 197 feet in height. A little farther on is the 
tomb or Tih, a priest of the Vth. dynasty. The chambers of this 
tomb are well preserved, and the sculptures on the walls, in 
delicacy of outline and coloring, are said to surpass those at 
Beni Hassan. Near to this tomb is the recently discovered 
Apis Mausoleum, or Serapeum, as it is sometimes called. In 
this place is a long subterranean gallery with mortuary cells on 
either side of it containing huge granite sarcophagi measuring 
on an average 13 by 6| feet and 11 feet high. In these the 
sacred bull gods Apis were entombed; there are twenty-fout 
of these most beautiful sarcophagi still in place. A ladder 
Jeans against one of them, up which we climb in order to a 
descent into the sarcophagus. The desert sands concealed this 
treasure — as it does many others yet undiscovered — until 
1860-61. 

But we have now taken the reader on the last Egyptian 
excursion which we shall make together, but we can assure him 
that we have by no means exhausted the interesting things of 
this part of Lower Egypt. "The half has not been told him ;" 
let him come and see for himself. As for us— "We must see 
Jerusalem also." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 

*Y'j^f^ E have one regret in leaving Egypt so soon, namely, 
^^JLI^ that we had not so timed our movements and laid 
our plans that a tour up the Nile as far as Luxor 
would have been possible. 

Such a tour would have cost us much less, and taken up 
less time, than all authorities we had consulted indicated. The 
reader who may consult these pages and whose good fortune 
it may be in the future to see for himself the things whereof 
he now reads, will do well to remember that a trip up the Nile 
to Luxor, Thebes, and Karnak, may be made by combining 
river and railway travel at less than half the cost usually speci- 
fied by tourist agencies. 

Cairo is connected with the Suez Canal by railway a dis- 
tance of about one hundred miles. Zagazig is the first town of 
any importance reached. Here a branch railway comes in 
from Alexandria. On our left, just before coming to Zagazig, 
are the ruins of the ancient Bubastis, the Pibeseth of the Bible. 
Its origin dates as far back as the XVIIIth. dynasty; and in the 
XXIId. it was in the height of its prosperity, becoming the 
royal city of Sheshonk I. — the Shishak of the Bible. Zagazig 
is a neat, modern looking town of no special historical im- 
portance. 

From this point on to Ismailia we have desert sands on 
our left, the old land of Goshen in the Patriarchal times, whilst 

(152) 



FROM CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 



153 




PLOWMAN AND TEAxM. 



154 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

on the right there are evidences of fertility in small groves of 
palm trees, and a village now and then. Tel el Keber, famous 
as the scene of Araby Pasha's defeat in 1882, is soon reached. 
Fourteen miles farther on is Mahsamah, near to which is the 
recently discovered site of Pithom, one of the treasure cities 
of which the Israelites are said to have built for Pharaoh. At 
Nefich, fourteen miles farther, the fresh water canal, along 
which we have been riding for some distance, divides, sending 
a short branch to Ismailia, the main canal continuing on south- 
ward to Suez. The railway also divides in a similar manner; 
the short spur of two miles and a half terminating at Ismailia. 
Lake Timsah, on the northern shore of which Ismailia is lo- 
cated, is supposed to have been the first camping place of the 
Israelites in their march out of Egypt. The lake makes a con- 
venient point midway between Suez and Port Said for the large 
ocean steamers making the passage of the canal to pass each 
other. We pass a night in the neat little town, and take the 
postal steamer in the morning for Port Said, which is reached 
after five hours steaming. A half day at Port Said suffices, for 
there is little of interest to be seen on its sandy streets. 

We take our departure from Port Said in a magnificent 
steamer of the French line, the "Gironde," and coming on deck 
early in the morning, after a ten hours' steam, we find our- 
selves lying to in front of Jaffa, waiting for a pilot to enter the 
harbor. Jaffa's harbor is only one in name, and it is not always 
that a vessel can land its passengers and cargo by reason of the 
rocks which lie just hidden in the water, and against which the 
sea breaks with such violence as to make a perfect foam of the 
waters along the whole coast fronting Jaffa. 

But we are among the favored this beautiful Sabbath 
morning in finding the sea not yet risen from his slumbers. As 
we look out from the veranda of our hotel later in the day we 
realize that we had indeed caught the sea napping in the morn- 
ing. The classical scholar will remember the story of Andro- 



FROM CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 155 

meda chained to one of the rocks in this low lying reef, against 
which the sea is now breaking so furiously. 

Jaffa will not bear acquaintance. It looks quite handsome 
from the sea, but on landing, one quickly recognizes the fact 
that he is in a wretched Arab town, with the usual narrow streets 
and unlimited amount of filth. We are made to remember like- 
wise that we are now in the dominion of the Turk, whose chief 
object in existence is to draw from the unwary traveler's pocket 
all he can. There has come recently into existence a new ar- 
rangement in reference to passports. If a traveler comes with- 
out a passport he is subjected to a fine of four dollars. We, in 
common with many others, were not aware of the arrangement 
and were put to some trouble, as well as a fine of two dollars, 
on account of our ignorance. Mr. Oilman, our gentlemanly 
consul at Jerusalem, is endeavoring to have an exception made, 
in this passport matter, of all American travelers, on the ground 
of the entire freedom allowed Turkish travelers and all others 
to land and travel anywhere in America without a passport ; he 
thinks he will succeed. 

It will be remembered by the Bible reader that Jafifa has 
some important events connected with its history. It was here 
that Peter raised Dorcas to life, and had his vision from the 
housetop of Simon the tanner. There is an old ruin by the 
seaside which is known as the house of Simon the tanner; of 
course we went to look at it. It was from this port that Jonah 
made his ignominious flight, landing in a port to which he was 
not ticketed; and thither it was that Solomon brought the tim- 
bers for the temple at Jerusalem. But Jaffa is noted for some- 
thing else which is well calculated to make the modern traveler 
open his eyes in astonishment and delight; the orange and 
lemon groves excel anything of the kind that we have ever seen. 
The trees are hanging full of the splendid fruit. We measured 
one orange which was found to be 13 inches in circumference: 
and it was only a fair sample of many that we saw. 



156 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

"What ghostly looking people those are," said R , as 

we noticed a company of white sheeted women in advance of 

us. "Angelic, rather," returned H , "for they are clothed 

in white, and we are now in a land accustomed — in times past 
at least — to angelic visions." These were Greek women, who 
invariably envelope themselves from head to foot in these white 
sheet coverings when they go out on the streets. On every 
Thursday we find them congregated in little groups in the 
cemetery to the north of town; they go to visit the graves of 
their departed friends; to picnic, pray and gossip. They are 
accompanied by professional praying men, who chant the 
Koran for a piastre a chapter, and by wailing women who are 
paid to weep, scream, and otherwise put on the semblance of 
grief. And so they remain without tiring, in fact thoroughly 
enjoying themselves, from sunrise to sunset, amid the reminders 
of their own mortality. 

And now we are ready for our journey to Jerusalem. We 
can hardly credit our senses that we are actually within thirty- 
six miles of the Holy City, the sight of which has been the 
height of our ambition since boyhood's days. Some of us take 
passage in an express wagon — fare one dollar; others of the 
company in a wheeled vehicle resembHng a barouche. The 
road — a pretty good one as Palestine roads go — leads out past 
the Dorcas fountain, among fine old orange orchards protected 
by prickly pear hedges, which few lovers of the lucious fruit 
would dare to brave in their efiforts to acquire. Out over the 
beautiful plain of Sharon, decked in scarlet by anemone, with 
the tulip and narcissus giving variety to the floral beauty of 
the plain. Here are pasture lands, and waving fields of barley 
and wheat. The implernents of agricultural which these fel- 
laheen are using are of the most primitive kind; a mere rooter 
with one handle for a plow, drawn most commonly by a pair 
of small heifers or steers. One is reminded as he looks at these 
heifer teams of what Samson said to the Philistines when they 
had at last extorted the secret of his riddle from his wife: "If 



FROM CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 157 

ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my 
riddle." Here and there by the way is an old stone tower, 
used as a guard house in more troublesome days. 

Twelve miles from Jafifa we come to Ramleh, where a half 
hour's stop is made. Ramleh has no special Biblical impor- 
tance, as it dates back only to the eighth century. To the west- 
ward of the town a little distance are the ruins of an old cru- 
sader church, the tower of which — 120 feet high — is still stand- 
ing. This tower is called the White Tower, sometimes the 
Tower of the Forty Martyrs, with which is connected a beauti- 
ful legend concerning the martyrdom of forty Christians who 
were exposed in a naked condition to the cold of a severe win- 
ter night with the condition that if any should abjure his faith 
in the Nazarene he could come to the guard's fire and live. 
The faithful band offered fervent prayer, saying: "Forty persons 
we have entered the arena, let forty martyrs wear the crown." 
As the night wore on the guard slept, and dreamed that he saw 
an angel descending with a crown in his hands, which he placed 
on the head of one of the party; thus he did again and again 
until he had placed thirty-nine crowns, when he returned not 
again. Awakened from his dream, the guard discovered the 
fortieth person at the fire; and convinced by his vision of the 
righteousness of the cause for which the band suffered, he 
sought and obtained permission of the authorities to take the 
place of the recreant, and perished with the rest. Thus the 
legend runs. 

Two miles to the northeast of Ramleh is the Lydda of the 
Bible, the modern Ludd. It will be remembered as the scene 
of some events in the life of Peter and Dorcas. About six 
miles farther on is the Half-way House, where refreshment 
for man and beast is enjoyed. From this point on we are lit- 
erally "Going up to Jerusalem," for we have commenced the 
climb of the Judean Hills. Look at those maidens! Can it 
be possible that we are meeting some of the descendants of the 
old Gibconites, who, as a punishment for their craft in league 



L58 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



making with Joshua, were doomed to be wood and water car- 
riers for Israel! We ask for information touching this com- 
pany of maidens, each one of whom carries on her head a load 
of small sticks tied in bundles about four feet in length, a load 






.1 .-. V" ,A V , 




TOWER OF RAMLEH. 

sufficient to tax the physical endurance of an ordinary man. 
"They are gathering their marriage dowry," the dragoman 
answers. "It is customary in this country," he continues, "for 
a maiden to have a hundred bundles of wood stacked up in her 
father's door yard, before she is considered eligible for marriage; 



FROM CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 159 

•she does not have to gather any more wood then for a whole 

year after marriage." "Now, then," said H , "here is a 

chance for our matrimonially inclined comrade to pick up a 
useful wife; he may hunt America over and he will not find 
one who will do her part better towards earning the daily bread 
of the household." "And almost any of them would go with 
the Howadji, for they have heard much about your pleasant 
land," answered the dragoman. 

Just before entering the narrow defile leading into the high- 
er range of Judean Hills, we pass on our left the scene of 
Joshua's conflict with the Amorites on that memorable day 
when sun and moon stood still over Gibeon and the valley of 
Ajalon. A few miles farther on is a very ancient looking town 
sitting upon a conical hill looking down into a deep wady on 
the north, the old Kirjath-jearim, it is said, where the ark of 
God rested for a period of twenty years after its capture by the 
Philistines. So steep are the inclines and ascents from this on, 
that we leave our carriages and take short cuts around the 
wadies, hoping as we ascend to the crest of each hill to get a 
vision of Jerusalem. But darkness begins to obliterate the 
landscape so that we are hardly aware of the fact when we are 
actually entering the long Jafifa street leading up to the western 
wall of the city. This is disappointing to us; for we would have 
had our first look at Jerusalem as the setting sun was throwing 
his gilding rays over it from the top of some of the western hills. 

Our hotel quarters are outside of the walls, and it is not 
until after supper that we go out and, Nehemiah like, take our 
first view of the walls with a bright moon looking down upon 
the scene. Our feet stand upon Mt. Zion; no longer the glor- 
ious Zion which led the sweet Singer of Israel once to exclaim : 
"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mt. Zion, 
on the sides of the north, the city of the great King!" No 
longer the joy, but the curiosity of the whole earth, we come 
here to see her in her desolation, mindful of what she once was, 
of what she has seen and suffered, and more than all else, be- 



160 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

cause the King of Kings condescended here to walk and teach, 
and suffer death. As we walk on past the tower of David to- 
wards the valley of Gihon, and turn the corner at the south- 
western angle of the wall going eastward, Olivet rises in our 
front, and our walk is in silence, for the memory is busy calling 
up the scenes associated with the sacred Mount. 

We retrace our footsteps back to the Hotel Fiel, where we 
are fortunate enough to meet with the very man we have had 
recommended to us for a dragoman, George Abraham, a young 
Christian Arab, whom we found in all our after experience to 
be competent, honest, and reliable in every way. The econ- 
omical tourist at Jerusalem need not be at an expense of more 
that $2.50 per day for hotel and guide. When he journeys out 
through the land he must have tents, cooks, baggage animals 
and horses, besides a good, competent dragoman, all of which 
will make his expenses — if he be with a company of at least four 
or five — about $5.00 per day. All intending tourists to the 
Holy Land who care to be careful about theit expenditures, 
will do well not to connect themselves with any party for the 
camping tour until after arrival at Jerusalem ; there will be op- 
portunity enough for that at Jerusalem. 

It is now the beginning of March and the latter rains may 
be expected at any time, hence George advises us to make our 
trip southward to Hebron, and back to the Dead Sea and Jor- 
dan valley immediately, reserving Jerusalem to the last for 
fear of broken weather. We cannot, however, turn away from 
Jerusalem without giving a day or two to it for general in- 
spection. 

"Perhaps," suggested H , " it would be well to construe 

literally the Psalmist's injunction to 'Walk about Zion, and go 
round about her; tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her 
bulwarks, consider her palaces ; that ye may tell it to the gener- 
ation following." We w'ill make the circuit of the walls then, 
first, and afterwards make a survey of the interior. Our start- 
ing point is the Jaffa gate, the only open gate in the western 



FROM CAIRO TO JP:RUSALEM. 161 

wall. The Jerusalem gates are not now closed at night, as they 
were a few years ago. The bulk of the commerce and travel 
goes in and out at the Jaffa gate. Turning southward by the 
road which leads down into the valley of Hinnom, our atten- 
tion is called to a group of people sitting by the roadside ; they 
beseech the Howadji for an alms. But observe them more 
closely; some of them speak in hollow, gutteral tones, for their 
palates are gone; the noses of some of them, too, are missing; 
some of them hold out hands minus fingers, arms without hands. 
Their skin presents a white scaly appearance. Altogether they 
are pitiable looking objects; give them a charity, for the God- 
man, when He walked the streets, was filled with compassion 
for the poor lepers. 

The wall is quite mediaeval looking, dating back only to 
Suleiman I. It is about thirty-five feet in height by ten in 
breadth. A few of the heavy ordnance of modern warfare 
would make speedy destruction of such walls. Turning east- 
ward to the southwest corner, we follow a narrow alley leading 
close under the wall over a portion of the Hill of Zion. A large 
portion of Zion is now outside of the southern wall. In this 
region is fotmd the reputed tomb of David. The tomb is cov- 
ered by a large stone building, on the upper floor of which we 
find a room 30 by 60 feet, called the Coenaculum, where the 
Lord instituted the Supper, and visited the disciples on the even- 
ing of the Resurrection ; it is somewhat apocryphal in character 
we think. The tomb is jealously guarded by the moslems and 
no permission is given the visitor to look within. A current 
tradition is, that long since a woman, filled with curiosity that is 
said to be natural to her sex, surreptitiously found heriway into 
the forbidden chamber, and came back in a dreadful state of 
commotion with the loss of sight, hearing and speech. "Those 

fellows," remarked H , as we left the building, "must think 

that we pilgrims from the Occident are a puerile race to credit 
such stories, to prevent us from indulging a desire to look into 
the Patriarchal tomb." 

6 



162 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

An Armenian convent is next inspected, which has nothii)^ 
more notable in its keeping than the head of which Herod de- 
prived James, and the stone which closed the mouth of the 
Lord's sepulchre, which the Latins accuse the Armenians of 
stealing from them. Passing from here down the declivity into 
Kedron, we follow its dry bed up past the tomb of Zachariah 
and Pillar of Absalom, until the Bethany road is reached; 
thence northward close to the wall among the moslem graves, 
continuing the ramble until we have made the circuit of the 
walls, a distance of two and a half miles. George says he must 
have the rest of the day for preparation for our Hebron jour-, 
ney to-morrow, and thus with this slight acquaintance with the 
Holy City we must rest content until our return. 



CHAPTER XV. 

OVER THE HILLS OF JUDEA TO HEBRON, DEAD SEA AND 
JORDAN VALLEY. 

^M^ EAVING the Jaffa gate our little company of four take 
^^^j the Bethlehem road en route to Hebron. The morn- 
ing is as pleasant as a tourist could wish for a ride 
such as we have before us. Roads are a rarity in Palestine, but 
the sleepy Turk is waking up a little to their importance, and 
we are promised a good road as far as Bethlehem; after that 
"You will see," the dragoman says. 

Who would dream that this pleasant valley of Hinnom 
through which we are now riding had ever had the evil reputa- 
tion which the Biblical record gives it? And yet it was here 
that Israel committed the abomination of the Moloch worship, 
in consequence of which good King Josiah had all the offal and 
refuse matter of the city carried thither, keeping up a perpetual 
burning and smoke in consuming it, which came in time to 
signify lo the Jewish mind the place of eternal torment. And 
this same valley has also seen the fulfillment of Jeremiah's 
prophecy. "It shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley 
o7 the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for they shall 
bury in Tophet till there be no place." It ran red with the blood 
of Jerusalem's sons and daughters when temple and nation 
went down in the great overthrow by Titus. 

As we come up out of the valley, on our right are long 
rows of stone houses which Sir Moses Montifiore has erected 
(163) 



164 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

for poor Jews. Close along the road runs the old aqueduct, 
long since out of use, which supplied the Gihon pools at Jeru- 
salem with water from the pools of Solomon, south of Bethle- 
hem. About midway to Bethlehem on our right is the convent 
Mar Elias, which occupies — it is said — the camping ground of 
Elijah for one night when he was flying from Jezabel's wrath. 

And there is Bethlehem rising in terraced form on yonder 
hillside, just beyond the olive covered valley at our feet! The 
city of David, around which clusters so much of sacred interest 
in connection with his life, and the life of David's greater Lord. 
Jerusalem lies buried from forty to fifty feet under the modern 
city, but Bethlehem remains topographically almost the same 
as when the infant of Bethlehem made his appearance in it. 
It is sacred ground, and we feel a reverence for the place such 
as we do not feel for any spot within the walls of Jerusalem. 

And here, too, by the way, a ten minutes' walk from the 
town, is a small white-domed building which Christian, Jew, 
and Moslem, alike pay homage to — Rachel's tomb. From age 
to age the occupant of the land, as well as invading foe, has 
respected the spot and kept some simple monument above 
her dust in place of the original stone pillar which Jacob 
reared to her memory. Take a flower, pilgrim, from the spot ; 
it is worth treasuring as a memento of the place hallowed for 
ages by affection's tender care. Here at our left, as we turn up 
the narrow stone walled way to Bethlehem, is David's well, 
from which his three braves brought him the drink his soul 
longed for when, as a refugee from Saul's anger, he thought 
of the home in Bethlehem. 

The town has a population of about 8,000, an intelligent, 
but turbulent class, dififering in many respects from the com- 
mon Arabs of the country, owing to the crusader blood in their 
veins. They are hospitable and kind to the stranger, but fiery 
in their relations with each other and the surrounding tribes. 
They are Greek and Catholic in their religion, enterprising and 
industrious in Ufe, being occupied largely in the making 01 



OVER THE HILLS OF JUDEA. 165 

olive wood and mother of pearl articles for tourist traffic. We 
dismount in front of tlie Church of the Nativity, for, let Bethle- 
hem possess what other attractions it may, this, above all spots 
on earth, save one, perhaps, is the dearest to our hearts. The 
tradition which makes the grotto over which the church stands 
the place of the nativity is so old and well authenticated that 
we can give at once our credence to it, a thing that cannot be 
done in reference to many other so-called sacred places without 
the largest stretch of the imagination. 

The church itself dates from the time of Constantine, by 
whose mother, the Empress Helena, it was built. It was reared 
on the site of a Kahn which, from the days of John, the beloved 
disciple, was said to be the one w^here Joseph and Mary sought 
shelter at the time of the Nativity. In Hadrian's time, A. D. 
1 17-138, the place was so venerated by the Christians that to 
desecrate it in their eyes Hadrian had a grove sacred to Adonis 
planted upon it. Jerome in the early part of the fourth century 
came Hither and spent thirty years of his life in a room joining 
the cave of the Nativity, engaged upon his Latin Vulgate trans- 
lation of the Scriptures. 

The interior is cathedral shaped, the usual lofty nave and 
side aisle, adorned with a few rather ordinary paintings repre- 
senting scenes in the life of the Savior. Descending a flight of 
steps beneath the choir room we reach the chapel of the Nativ- 
ity, once a rude cave, but now transformed into a beautiful 
marble cased room 16 by 40 feet, with a height of 10 feet; here 
hang thirty-two silver lamps. On the right as we enter the 
chapel is a low arched shrine about four feet in height, in which 
hang fifteen more silver lamps, the gifts of kings and queens of 
many lands. In the center of its paved floor is a silver star 
with this inscription, "Hie de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus 
natus est" — "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary." 
It will not disgrace thee, pilgrim, if a manly or womanly tear 
falls as an offering of sweet affection and reverence in this place 
of thy dear Lord's Incarnation. Directly opposite this shrine 



166 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




OVER THE HILLS OF JUDEA. 167 

is another where the Magi knelt with their offerings. In these 
shrines the lamps burn night and day; the Turkish soldier with 
gun in hand watches the visitor's every movement. 

" In Bethlehem the Lord of Glory, 

Who brought us life, first drew his breath : 

On Golgotha, O bloody story I 

By death He broke the power of death. 

From western shores, all danger scorning, 

I traveled through the lands of morning. 

And greater spots I nowhere saw 

Than Bethlehem and Golgotha." 

About two miles south of Bethlehem by direct road we 
reach the Pools of Solomon. An old ruinous fortress built by 
the Saracens stands at the northwest corner of the Pools, once 
used for guarding the reservoirs, but now utilized for nothing 
save, perhaps, as a temporary habitation for some shepherd and 
his flock. The Pools stand at the head, or western end, of 
the narrow, wady Urtas. They are three in number, so formed 
that the bottom of the upper one is on a level with the top of 
the second, and the bottom of the second on a level with the 
top of the third. Their dimensions are : upper one, 380 by 229 
feet, depth, 25 feet; second one, 423 by 160 feet at west end, but 
with a width at east end of 250 feet; lower one, 582 by 148 feet 
at west end, with a width at east end of 207 feet, with a depth 
of 50 feet. The second Pool is separated from the first by a 
space of 160 feet, and the third from the second by a space of 
248 feet. Thus their united lengths and spaces would extend 
about one-third of a mile down into the widy. Stone steps at the 
corners lead down into each Pool. There was little water in any 
of them at the time of our visit. They receive their water sup- 
ply from four springs, one of which is found in the old fortress; 
the main feeder, however, coming from the limestone hill two 
hundred yards to the west, through an underground conduit. 
There seems no reason to doubt the truth of the tradition which 
assigns the construction of these pools to Solomon. They give 
evidence of the highest antiquity; and the wise man's own 



168 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

words in Eccles. II., 4-6, make it certain that somewhere in the 
region he built him pools, and in this wady as nowhere else 
in all the region nature seems to have favored the construction 
of just such works; but of this more, on our return journey 
through the wady below us. 

And now our journey is roadless; nothing but a narrow- 
bridle path for most of the way, so slippery and rugged that 
we are in constant fear that a surgeon's skill will be required 
to mend some broken bones. A road is building which will 
in the course of time afford a much easier approach to Hebron 
than that which now falls to our lot. What a scene of desola- 
tion meets our eyes from this point on until we enter the valley 
of Eschol ! We travel over hills of solid limestone and through 
depressions thickly covered with loose stone for a whole half 
day. The entire territory traversed would hardly keep a herd 
of goats. But in all this waste and desolation there is left some 
beauty, for wherever a handful of soil can be found there some 
flower raises its pretty head as if trying its best to lend a little 
beauty to the surrounding desolation. The flowers of Pales- 
tine are truly many and wonderful. 

On a hill top to our left is a little white-domed building 
which our dragoman tells us is Jonah's tomb. As we enter the 
vale of Eschol we notice that the grape is still extensively culti- 
vated here; and if the fruit be as large correspondingly as the 
vines we see, the grapes of Eschol must still be as remarkable 
as at the time when Joshua sent his spies into the land. Eschol 
soon joins itself to the plane of Mamre, down which we ride 
about a mile until Hebron is reached. Hebron contains, we 
are told, about ten thousand people packed away in their small 
stone and sun-dried brick houses as thickly as though there was 
no available space for the living outside of this miserable town. 
The object of our visit, of course, was to see the Cave of Mach- 
pelah, the tomb of the Patriarchs. We leave our animals in 
charge of the muleteer and make our way on foot through a 
very narrow and dirty bazar street, followed by a crowd of all 



OVER THE HILLS OF JUDEA. 169 

ages and sexes whose object is backshish. We are permitted 
to ascend only a few steps towards the entrance of the mosque 
that covers the cave. These fanatical Moslems will permit no 
other than a Mohammedan to enter the precincts of the sanc- 
tuary beneath which sleep the fathers of Israel. It would cost 
a man his life to attempt it. We were obliged to content our- 
selves with a peep through a chink in the wall made for this 
self-same purpose. 

It is devoutly to be wished that the possession of Mach- 
pelah was in some less fanatical hands so that an entrance to the 
interior might be had by the pilgrim who has come his thou- 
sands of miles to visit the sacred shrines. Only three Euro- 
peans — royal personages each of them — with a few attend- 
ants, have had the privilege of an entrance into the mosque 
covering the cave within the past century, and that was ac- 
complished by special Firman of the Sultan. 

Hebron, known also in Old Testament times as Kirjath 
Arba, lays claim to the greatest antiquity of any town now in 
existence. It is said to have a population of about ten thou- 
sand, and a more villainous and disreputable looking lot it has 
never been our misfortune to meet. Although a refuge city 
in Bible times, we would hardly be willing even to seek a tem- 
porary refuge in it now. Its streets, like most of these oriental 
towns, are narrow and filthy, and afford a variety of perfumery 
that would surely satisfy the most fastidious. '"Surely," sug- 
gested R , "if cleanliness is next to godliness, the Patri- 
archs, being such godly men, must either have risen above their 
surroundings or have found a different state of things here from 
what we now find." 

We now ascend the plain of Mamre about a mile to a Rus- 
sian hospice, where we are to pass the night, almost under the 
branches of Abraham's Oak, beneath which he entertained the 
angels on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The 
present "Oak of Abraham" presents a very ancient appearance; 
it is probably five hundred years old, and will be numbered with 



170 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




OVER THE HILLS OF JUDEA. 171 

the dead oaks shortly. It doubtless stands on or near the spot 
where the original tree stood. The plain of Mamre can be tra- 
versed in all its length in an hour's time. The next day, re- 
turning by the same route until the Pools of Solomon are 
reached, we leave the main road and turn down the wady Urtas. 
If the current tradition be true, this pleasant little valley is the 
scene of Jehoshaphat's thanksgiving when he returned victori- 
ous from the slaughter of his enemies at Tekoa, and bore the 
name of Berachah — that is, valley of blessing — from that time 
on. Solomon found at times a pleasant retreat amid his groves 
and gardens. Look down into the valley, and we notice even 
now the finest gardens we have seen since entering the land. 
About a mile from the pools, and clinging close to the steep 
northern side of the wady is Etam, Samson's native town. 

A stone water conduit bringing water from the Pools fol- 
lows the upper edge of the declivity to Bethlehem. The valley 
widens as it approaches the town, and fine old olive groves cover 
the plain. We are once more in Bethlehem. From here we 
turn eastward on our journey to the Dead Sea. 

We have arranged for a Bedouin escort to the Jordan val- 
ley to meet us at this point. It is not safe for a small party to 
go into this region without first having paid a sort of tribute 
to the sheik at Jerusalem. The members of the tribe, the wild 
sons of Ishmael, who inhabited the region at the head of the Dead 
Sea, recognize the tribute paid in the person or persons of your 
soldier escort. Our escort, as he takes his place at the head of 
the cavalcade, does not look as though he would strike terror 
into the hearts of our enemies. A solitary Arab he is, with an 
old flint lock gun hanging by a strap over his back, a gun which 
couldn't be coaxed to hurt anybody. He patters along over 
the stony way, carrying his sandals in his hand the most of the 
time to save his sole leather. 

We take our noonday lunch in the plain where the angel 
heralds proclaimed the message of "Good will to men" to the 
shepherds. It is near the close of the afternoon when we come 



172 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




OVER THE HILLS OF JUDEA, 173 

to the deep gorge of the Kedron, and riding along for a half 
hour on its upper edge we come to the convent of Mar Saba, 
built right into the rocky sides of the gorge. We are hos- 
pitably entertained for the night by the friendly monks. It is 
a law of the convent to "permit no woman or beardless youth 
to cross the threshold." The next day at noon we are at the 
northern end of the Dead Sea. The wind is blowing quite 
fiercely, and occasional showers of rain are falling. Some 
writers have described the Sea as waveless and as overspread 
with a gloomy, hazy atmosphere. We find it in no such con- 
dition. The white caps are dancing on its surface, and the 
waves are rolling in so fiercely that we almost despair of our 
cherished plan of a bath in its waters ; but our ambition in this 
respect is gratified. It presents much the same appearance of 
any ordinary lake. The black tents of the Bedouins are visible 
in every gorge and valley around us. 

We arrive at the Jordan River in the midst of a rain, and 
instead of camping on its banks for a while, as we had intended, 
we make for Jericho, an hour's ride across the plain from the 
Jordan. This locality teems with interest to the Biblical stu- 
dent. Here is the scene of Elijah's translation and the crossing 
of the Israelites when, under the leadership of Joshua, they 
came into the land to possess it. "Nebo's lonely Mount" rises 
up behind us just beyond the Jordan, and farther down on the 
east side of the Dead Sea the mountains of JNIoab rise into view. 
In front of us is Jericho, the City of Palms. Not a single palm 
remains now in all the plain of Jericho, and only a wretched little 
Arab village and a half-dozen modern houses remain to mark 
the site of the once opulent city of Jericho. 

We tarry here for a night, going out of town a half-hour's 
walk to the fountain of Elisha, the famous fountain whose bitter 
waters were sweetened by the Prophet. It is a fine fountain still, 
the only one in all the region. Here in the edge of the evening 
we receive our first jackal serenade. From a dozen different 
cjuarters their woman-like yells arise, and the answering barks 



174 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



of the dogs of the village make the evening hour in this deso- 
late village one long to be remembered. 

The next day we enter the hills where the gorge of the 
brook Cherith opens into the Jericho plain, and ascend to Jeru- 




RUINS OF JERICHO, 
salem by the very road of the Savior's parable of the "Good 
Samaritan." It is still accounted the worst and most danger- 
ous road in Palestine. We pass scores of Russian pilgrims on 
their way to the Jordan, all on foot, and many of them barefoot, 



OVER THE HILLS OF JUDEA. 175 

for these poor pilgrims imagine that there is more merit in this 
painful method of pilgrimage than if they were to make it in 
a more comfortable manner. 

It is about a six hours' ride from Jericho to Jerusalem, or 
a distance of about twenty miles. The white tower on the top 
of Olivet is visible all the way. 

"Bethany, did you say, dragoman?" Yes, this insignifi- 
cant looking place is in very truth Bethany, El Azariyeh, the 
Arabs call it. It is our first view of it, and we tarry long enough 
to visit a rock hewn tomb said to be the tomb of Lazarus, and 
the old ruin in the center of the town made by tradition to be 
the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Hither we shall re- 
turn again, for the little village will furnish food for reflection, 
if nothing else, and will repay for a foot journey from Jerusalem. 

Rounding the southern slope of Olivet, Jerusalem comes 
into full view^ This is thq point from which the Savior viewed 
it on that memorable occasion when He wept over its coming 
woes. How glorious must the vision have been at that time! 
But, alas! its glory has departed, and it sits still with the cloud of 
an uncertain fate upon it. Not yet repentant, what vicissi- 
tudes of peril and suffering are yet before it, only the mind of 
the Omniscient can tell. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

WALKS ABOUT ZION. 

♦Jf^ OTEL quarters at the "Fiel" have been exchanged for 
lU more humble entertainment at the home of our drago- 
man, and we are prepared to make a leisurely survey 
of Jerusalem and its environments, with a competent guide to 
direct us in our rambles. We had planned as a company, a 
two weeks' stay in the Holy City, but for the writer, at least, this 
stay is to lengthen out into months. Coming as a tourist only, 
he stays as a missionary, temporarily in charge of "The Evan- 
gelical Mission to Israel," during a short absence of Mr. Joseph, 
in England. We are glad of the privilege thus afforded us of 
a more intimate acquaintance with Jerusalem life, and a more 
thorough knowledge of the topography of a region full of sacred 
interest. 

In Mr. Oilman, our efficient Consul, we find a friend ever 
ready to give advice, or afford assistance when called on, and 
to him we are indebted for special facilities afforded us at times 
for gathering knowledge which, under other circumstances, 
would perhaps not have been attainable. The Turk, evidently, 
has been going to school for a few years past; and his knowl- 
edge of our great Occidental country is expanding, and his re- 
spect for the representative of that country correspondingly 
increases. 

Jerusalem was in its grandeur, in the days when the Hero- 
dian Temple crowned the top of Moriah, and the lofty walls ris- 
(176) 



WALKS ABOUT ZION. 



177 



ing up at its southeast angle to a height of i8o feet, and shining 
white in the sunhglit as the traveler approaches it around the 
southern slope of Olivet, in the days when Mt. Zion was adorned 
with the palaces of the Asmonaean kings; all this gave beauty- 
enough to lead the poet's mind onward to his description of that 
"Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest." But when 
we look at its modern representative, and travel through the 
narrow, filthy, cobble-stone streets, we feel like paraphrasing this 
poetical description and reading it, "J^^^^salem the stony, with 
dirt and rubbish cursed."' 




JERUSALEM. 

The Jerusalem of the Savior's day lies from forty to seventy 
feet below the present city. Around the Temple site the ruins 
of the old city are deepest, for it was here that the work of de- 
struction was most complete, the grand Temple edifice being 
razed to the ground. The Tyropean, or Cheese-monger's val- 
ley, which separated Zion from Moriah, was a narrow gully so 
deep that a bridge was thrown over it as a means of passage be- 



178 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT, 



tween the two mounts. Seventy feet of ruins have well nigh 
made a level passage now 'between Mts. Zion and Moriah. Near 
to the Jew's Wailing place the top arches of this old Tyropean 
bridge are yet visible. Moriah is walled in as a separate space, 
and occupies an area in the southeast corner of the city of about 
thirty-five acres. The mosques of Omar and El Aksa are the 
only two buildings in the enclosure. The space is paved, and 




TEV^S' WAILING PLACE. 

here and there growing up out of the pavement are olive and 
cypress trees, afifording a pleasant shade to the lounging Mos- 
lem. No Jew is allowed in the enclosure ; the Moslem regards 
it as next to the holiest spot in all the world, and the presence 
of the heathen, Frank or Jew is regarded as a profanation which 
he will not brook. It is only a few years since pilgrims from 
European countries could gain admittance under any pretext; 



Walks about zion. I79 

but now a little backshish will soften the Moslem heart most 
wonderfully, and gain admittance under certain circumstances. 
A company of half a dozen or more under the conduct of a uni- 
formed "Cavasse" obtained through a consulate will enable us 
to see the interior of the Mosque of Omar. 

Our dragoman suddenly informs us one day that he has a 
small company to take to the Mosque and we had better join 
ourselves to it. We have been waiting for such an opportunity 
and gladly follow him and his party into the sacred inclosure. 
A few minutes' contemplation of its exterior shows us an octa- 
gonal shaped building with a dome 170 feet above the level of 
the pavement. Each of its eight sides has a length of sixty- 
eight feet. We enter on the north side up a flight of steps to a 
level with the Mosque floor, sixteen feet above the pavement. 
An iron screen placed between pillars and columns thirteen feet 
away from the outside wall, runs around the building; and in 
the center of the room directly under the dome a second iron 
screen circles around the naked top of Moriah. The name by 
which the Mosque is oftentimes designated, "Dome of the 
Rock," is derived from the fact just alluded to. 

There are a number of traditions, both Christian and Mos- 
lem, connected with this rock. The Moslems believe that ii . 
was from this point that Mahomet made his ascent to heaven 
on his famous steed, El Borak; that the rock, anxious to accom- 
pany the Prophet, was detained in place by the angel Gabriel's 
hand, the imprint of which they show you on the hard face of the 
rock. It was here, according to Christian tradition, that Abra- 
ham prepared to offer Isaac as a sacrifice; here also the place 
of Araunah the Jebusite's threshing floor, where Bavid erected 
the altar and stayed the plague; and here the place of the Holy 
of Holies in the old Temple. These latter traditions may be 
taken as credible, for there is nothing in them to contradict the 
Scripture narrative. Underneath the rock is a cave, into which 
light streams through a circular opening in the roof. There 
seems yet to be other cavities below the floor of this cave, for 



ISO 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




WALKS ABOUT ZTON. 181 

it gives forth a hollow sound when struck. The Moslems say 
this is an evidence of the truth of their claim that the rock is sus- 
pended in midair. Look up at the dome and p.ides of the great 
building! but don't do so in obedience to the lounging Moslem's 
request, else he will call "backshish" on you with an irritating 
persistency. They glitter in an exquisite beauty of color and 
mosaics. The Mosque, it is claimed, was built by Abd-el-Melek, 
between the years A. D. 688 and 693. 

Passing out into the paved court yard, we descend by a 
tiight of stone steps at the southeast corner into a vast under- 
ground chamber, bearing the name of Solomon's Sta]:)les, a 
discovery made within the last five years. A multitude of enor- 
mous granite columns support the roof. How old this cavern 
is, no one can tell; but rings and chain marks on the supporting 
columns show that at some remote period it was, used for sta- 
bling purposes, perhaps by the Crusaders. 

As we pass back over that portion of Zion outside of the 
southern wall we notice that Micha's prophecy is having a literal 
fulfillment before our very eyes; "Therefore shall Zion for your 
sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps." 
Yes, the plowman is at work getting the ground ready for gar- 
dens. 

If we take our way westward of the Joppa gate some six 
hundred yards we find in the midst of a Mohammedan cemetery 
the upper one of the two Pools of Gihon. It was here thai 
Solomon was anointed king, whilst the people in their gladness 
made such noisy demonstrations that Adonijah and his band, 
who were also having a coronation feast to themselves at En 
Rogel, heard the jubilations with dismay. From this Pool runs 
a conduit to the Pool of Hezekiah within the city; both Pool and 
conduit are undoubtedly the same as those referred to in 2 
Kings, 20:20. There is no living water in Gihon; its present 
function is to catch the water that descends from the clouds in 
the rainy seasons, and send it off through the conduit to the Pool 
within the city. 



182 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



Following the valley as it dips toward Hinnom, a third of 
a mile, we come to the lower Gihon Pool. Passing this we turn 
eastward through the valley of Hinnom, having on the right as 
we pass the Hill of Evil Counsel, which derives its name from a 
tradition that it was here that the rulers met in the house of Cai- 
aphas and determined to put Jesus to death. Joining it closely 
is Aceldama, of which a certain guest at a hotel in Jerusalem was 
heard to say : "I have been this forenoon to see the wonderful 
field of Aceldama, which Judas sold for thirty pieces of silver." 




HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
There are a number of rock-hewn tombs at the foot of these two 
hills. Looking into one of them we found it inhabited by an 
Abyssinian family, a most wretched looking lot, whom we did 
not blame for wanting a little backshish. 

At this point Hinnom joins the Kedron, and turning south 
in the brook we come in a few minutes to a very old landmark 
in these regions. En Rogel, the scene of the Adonijah festivities 
at the time of Solomon's anointing. The Arabs call it Job's 
well, for what reason we know not, for it is certain that the man 



WALKS ABOUT ZION. 183 

of Uz never had any connection with it. The well is first men- 
tioned in Joshua as the boundary between Judah and Benjamin. 
It is again mentioned in connection with the Absalom rebellion 
as the place where the Priest's sons hid themselves that they 
might gather news for the fugitive David in the Jordan valley. 
It is 125 feet deep, depending largely on the surface flow into 
it for its supply of water. When the wells and cisterns of Je- 
rusalem give out, as not unfrequently happens, then come hither 
the women with their water jars, the men with their large skin 
bottles, and droves of donkeys, upon which the bottles are load- 
ed and carried to the city, and peddled out, or turned into some 
one's empty cistern at so much per bottle. Even now as we 
journey around the city we often meet these water peddlers, 
crying "Moyeh! moyeh!" for the latter rains are much behind 
their usual time, and grave fears are entertained of a wate^ 
famine. 

The Jerusalem dwellers appear to regard the rain failure 
as a special judgment upon them for their wickedness, and one 
may often hear — during these days — such expressions as "God 
is angry with us, for He is sending rain upon Galilee and Sama- 
ria, whilst we and our crops are parched with thirst. We do not 
wonder to find these poor unfortunates so ready to trace all their 
calamities to Jehovah asi a result of their own sin, for surely no 
city or country in all the world has had sadder experience in the 
school of discipline than Jerusalem and Judea; and it is encour- 
aging to find them so sensitive on the subject. 

Returning up the Kedron to a point almost opposite the 
southeast corner of the Temple area, and on the eastern side of 
the brook, is a small collection of houses and cave dwellings 
clinging to the side of a rocky hill ; this is KefTer Silwan, or the 
village of Siloam, built on the Hill of Offense, where the too 
indulgent Solomon built for his heathen wives idol temples. 
It was well named the Hill of Offense; and hbw the good man 
so lost his head as to fling such a challenge into the face of Him 
whose presence was signified by the Grand Temple on the op- 



184 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




WALKS ABOUT ZION. 185 

posite height, is a mystery incomprehensible. It is a Hill of 
Offense down to this day; for there are unsavory people and 
smells in all its habitations. 

We are now in a region of bones, graves above and below, 
to the right and left. The flat stones on the slope of Olivet to 
the right are Jewish grave stones. Every foot of space is occu- 
pied, and the Jew will lie nowhere else, so, when fresh subjects 
are ready, the oldest graves are opened and a new occupant is 
laid upon the old. On the west side are the Moslem graves. 
They will not rest with the Jew, for it is defilement even in death 
to mingle with them. 

Here, as we proceed, are four sepulchral structures lifted 
up out of the bed of the Kedron and formed in its precipitous 
eastern, side. The first is Zachariah's tomb, although it seems 
a solid structure cut out of the rock, with no entrance that has 
ever been discovered. It is pyramidal shaped on top and stands 
about thirty feet in height. The next is the Grotto of St. James, 
a series of sepulchral chambers leading far into the rocky hill. 
It derives its name from a tradition that St. James made it a 
hiding place after the betrayal and during the trial and crucifix- 
ion of Jesus. The tomb of Jehoshaphat comes next, a sepul- 
chral chamber similar to that just described. Absalom's Pillar 
is next. It is about forty-five feet in height, with a spire-like 
top. It has a base of twenty feet square. A hole in the north 
side allows a person to crawl into the interior, but we ifound 
nothing but broken stone in the inside. It is a much abused 
structure, for it is held in abhorrence by the pious Jew, who omits 
no opportunity ot throwing a stone at4t, and we find these loose 
stones hurled at it covering its base to a depth of several feet. 
It is all because Absalom was a rebellious son and reared the 
pillar — or perhaps another one on the same spot — to perpetuate 
his memory, at a time when he thought he would have no sons 
to keep his family and name alive in Israel. As the Savior 
passed this way, how often His eyes must have rested upon these 
four objects we have been describing! They were here, un- 



186 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



questionably, when He was made flesh and dwelt with man. 
There are few such objects remaining now around Jerusalem, 
and we view them with all the more interest and reverence when 
the consciousness is upon us that these identical objects were 
seen and visited by the noblest Pilgrim who ever trod the rough 
path of our earthly life. 

Let us take this zigzag path leading up out of Kedron and 
follow it over the steep incline to the Golden gate, for it is an ob- 
ject worthy of our inspection. It is a closed gateway, and has 




GETHSEMANE. 

been thus closed Siince about the third century A. D. A tradi- 
tion is still current that the Christians will yet enter in final tri- 
umph through this gate to hold possession of the city. By the 
Moslems, Mahomet and Jesus are both assigned positions as 
judges at this gate in the general judgment, which, according to 
the belief of both Moslem and Jew, is to take place in the 
Jehoshaphat valley below. The gate is double portaled, an d orna- 
mented over the arches by Doric work supposed to be a part of 
the old gate Beautiful, which gave admittance to the Temple area 
on the eastern side. It was here, if authorities be correct on the 



WALKS ABOUT ZION. 187 

subject, that the gate Beautiful of our Lord's time was situated, 
and through which He made His triumphal entry during Pas- 
sion week. And in this connection, may not the prophecy of 
Ezek. xliv. :2, about the closed sanctuary gate, have a special 
application to this same closed gate? We think so. 

We have promised to see Bethany once more, and we can- 
not do better than to start from the Golden gate and follow a 
course leading up over Olivet, which was doubtless taken by 
our Savior Himself on many of His journeys to the home of 
His friends in the quiet little village. A ten minutes' walk 
brings us to the Latin's garden of Gethsemane. Its western 
wall runs to the Bethany road. The entrance is by a low door 
in its upper, or eastern wall. The enclosed space is about three- 
fourths of an acre. In the center of the garden is a paling en- 
closure, in which the monks cultivate some very fine flowers, 
which go in large part to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for 
its adornment. There are seven olive trees in this enclosure, 
very old, unmistakably, but scarcely as old as the monks would 
have us believe ; for they tell us that these are the identical trees 
that were in the garden at the time of the Agony. Even if the 
olive lived to such an age, there is a fact of history which would 
prevent us giving credence to the story of the monks. Titus, 
we are told, cut down all the trees in the locality at the time of 
the destruction of the city. Around this inner enclosure runs 
an avenue eight or ten feet in width, with scenes illustrative of 
the Passion placed upon the wall at intervals. 

Is this the true Gethsemane or not? So it has been claimed 
for sixteen hundred years; and yet three hundred years was long 
enough to lose all track of the sacred spot. While tradition 
says yes, reason would say no, to the identity of the place. If 
solitude was what was sought on that dread night by the sorrow- 
ing Savior and disciples, then it would hardly have been sought 
at that time in that place ; for all the region was occupied by the 
tenting and camping pilgrims to the Passover feast. It seems 
reasonable, with Dr, Thompson, to look for the true site of 



188 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



.^T^y.«.-?^ 




ABSALOM'S PILLAR. 



WALKS ABOUT ZION. 189 

Gethsemane higher np in a sechided vale between the two 
spurs of OHvet. But what malters it? Gethsemane was a re- 
aHty, and was somewhere in this immediate vicinity, and it gives 
a solemn and tender interest to our walk, as we make our way 
up the stony side of Olivet. 

A narrow stone-walled lane, traveled no one knows how 
many centuries, leads up to the Church of the Ascension. On 
either side the jMounti is terraced, and the almond, fig and olive 
flourish in soil to which they have been accustomed for ages; 
without them, Olivet would be only a vast stone heap. The 
Church of the Ascension dates back to about the fourth century, 
and marks the place — so says the tradition — where Jesus was 
parted from His disciples and received up into heaven. 

If the Scriptures were in the hands of the people in those 
first centuries of the Christian era, we can hardly pardon the ig- 
norance which selected such places as are now alleged to have 
been the scene of numerous events in the life of our Lord. Is 
it not expressly said in reference to the Ascension that "He led 
them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and 
blessed them, and while He blessed them He was parted from 
them, and carried up into heaven?" Down the eastern side of 
the Mount over this little knoll we pick our way until Bethany 
is reached. 

How sadly has the little village degenerated since those 
days when the homeless Son of God found temporary rest and 
refreshment in the humble home of his friends in Bethany! 
About forty wretched mud hovels inhabited exclusively by Mo- 
hammedans go to make up the village. It is indeed, as its name 
signifies, "The house of poverty." But the home of poverty 
may yet be neat, and clean, and restful; and in these respects 
the Savior doubtless found the Bethany of His day vastly supe- 
rior to the Bethany of our time. The old Bethany lies here on 
the surface, and not, as at Jerusalem, fathoms deep under the 
dust and ruin of several cities. The village occupies a rough 
limestone plateau, and anciently covered a much larger area on 



190 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

the west than the modern village. Wandering over this space 
we found many old cisterns long since out of use, as well as a 
few rock-hewn tombs. The tomb of Lazarus we must look 
for somewhere on the outskirts of the village, and not where the 
Bethany people show it, at their very doors. Along the Jeri- 
cho road a little to the eastward of the town are rock-hewn 
tombs which would well meet all the requirements of the Bibli- 
cal narrative. The almond and the fig, with blossom and fruit, 
growing up out of the scanty soil, take away a little of the bar- 
renness of nature around Bethany. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

EASTER DAYS IN THE HOLY CITY. 

♦flTT has been with mingled feelings of pleasure and sorrow 
II that we have for the last two weeks gone in and out of 
the Holy City and circled around her on the hills made 
memorable by past events. The sun rising over Olivet no 
longer looks upon the glorious city of our Savior's time, for the 
ages have heaped upon her bosom the debris of the cities built 
again and again upon the same site. But not so with the ever- 
lasting hills which stand like sentinels around her. Here na- 
ture is sovereign, and amidst all the strife and tumult of ages 
past she has suffered but little disfigurement. 

Coming out of the Damascus gate on the north, and letting 
four eyes follow the road for a half mile in its ascent, we see to 
the right the hill Scopus, over which the army of Titus approach- 
ed to the final overthrow of the city. Directly in front of us, 
but a few hundred yards distant, is a hill, shaped much like a 
human head, the top of which is on a level with the top of the 
wall ; this is most probably the Hill of Calvary, on which the In- 
carnate God was lifted a spectacle of shame to the witnessing 
millions. General Gordon, of Khartoum fame, made careful 
investigation of the subject and pronounced this to be the veri- 
table Golgotha. Of course it is in opposition to the view of the 
Armenian, Greek and Latin religious organizations who claim 
that the Holy Sepulchre within the walls is upon the site of the 
crucifixion and burial ; but this is certainly the most foolish fic- 
(191) 



192 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

tion of all the multitudes of fictions which we hear daily. The 
Great Sacrifice was made without the walls, and everybody ac- 
quainted with the topography of the ancient city knows that its 
walls included a greater area than the modern walls do. They 
extended southward to the valley of Hinnom, taking in that 
part of the hill of Zion now without the wall and covered in part 
by an Armenian convent; and northward to an indefinite dis- 
tance. We find no spot around the city which so well answers 
the requirements of the sacred narrative as the hill just men- 
tioned. Standing upon its summit we are struck with the fact 
that the hills of Moriah and Zion both dip down towards out 
point of view, ending at the Tyropean valley, thus affording the 
dwellers upon these hills a vision of all that was transpiring on 
this hill without the walls. It is now covered with graves, and 
underneath it, hewn from the solid rock, are a number of tombs; 
together with a large grotto called the grotto of Jeremiah. 

Passing eastward along the northern wall we come to the 
valley of Jehoshaphat, in reality a continuation of the brook 
Kedron, crossing which we ascend into a vale covered with old 
olive trees. This vale lies between Scopus and Olivet, and we 
verily believe would come nearer being the true site of Gethsem- 
ane than either of the three sites near the eastern wall shown 
by the Latins, Greeks and Armenians, as Gethsemane, for the 
simple reason that the former is away from the public high- 
ways, while the latter are near them, and on that account would 
less likely be selected by the Savior for the travail of sorrow 
which His soul was to experience that night. But a truce to 
these questions in regard to sacred sites. 

Mt. Olivet is no fiction. What memories sweep over our 
souls as we stand upon its summit and gaze upon the places 
which meet our vision! To the eastward overlooking the hills 
of Judea we see the Jordan valley with its historic river winding 
like a silver thread northward through its length; and a little 
to the south lies the Dead Sea, still and glassy looking, as we see 
it to-day; and we notice likewise a phenomenon which some 



EASTER DAYS IN THE HOLY CITY. 193 

writers have spoken of — a dull, smoky atmosphere appears to 
have settled down over the valley and the sea, giving it the ap- 
pearance of an Indian summer day. Almost at our feet lies the 
little village of Bethany, whither Jesus often-times resorted for 
rest and refreshment in the home of His friends. 

Facing the Holy City on the west of the mount we see at 
its foot the Kedron wending its way in a southeasterly direction 
towards the Dead Sea, while a little to our left rises the Mount 
of Offense, where Solomon built his idol temples in the very 
face of the magnificent structure which crowned the top of Mo- 
riah. On the side of the Mount of Offense, overlooking the 
Kedron, is the little village of Siloam, and opposite, just across 
the brook, is the pool of Siloam. On the eastern edge of Ked- 
ron, in this same locality, are Absalom's Pillar and tombs of St. 
James and Jehoshaphat. In looking at these places we derive 
a satisfaction in the knowledge that we behold them much as 
the Savior Himself saw them. From the pool of Siloam runs 
a water conduit cut through the solid rock a distance of 1,750 
feet to the fountain of the Virgin, so called from the tradi- 
tion that the Virgin used to wash her child's linen 
at this place. It is a resort for bathers now. The conduit which 
connects it with the pool of Siloam dates back to Zedekiah's 
time. Both sides of the Kedron in this locality are covered 
thick with graves. Here the poor Jew desires to find a resting 
place in the shadow of the Temple, and thousands of them rest 
in this locality. 

We witnessed rather a peculiar, not to say disgusting, cere«. 
mony in the cemetery adjoining the Armenian convent on the 
southern. slope of Zion. It was the ceremony of anointing the 
dead; the bones of one long dead were taken, out, handled and 
even kissed by relatives, while a priest waved an incense lamp 
over them, reciting some formula of prayer the meantime, aftei- 
which a bottle of wine was produced and the skull and other 
bones bathed with it, and then all placed in a sack and reinterred. 

We took a donkey excursion the otlier day to Mizpeh, the 
7 



194 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

place where Samuel judged Israel and where Saul was anoint- 
ed. While here we saw the old style of grist mill in operation. 
Two women seated upon the floor of their dwelling with a small 
millstone between them, which they were laboriously turning 
around on the flat surface of a nether stone, were turning out a 
grist of barley. Here in Jerusalem there is a slight improve- 
ment on this primitive style of mill, there being one steam and 
several wind mills in operation. 

We were the uninvited guests at a wedding ceremony in 

Bethlehem the other day. Friend R and myself made a foot 

pilgrimage to the village and on arrival met a company of Beth- 
lehem maidens escorting a bride to her husband. Being cu- 
rious to witness the whole ceremony we quietly turned in at 
the rear and followed the company until the groom's house was 
reached. The bride was mounted upon a horse and closely veil- 
ed, and the maidens accompanying her were engaged in chant- 
ing certain things in her praise. Arriving at the humble stone 
dwelling of the groom, the bride was conducted into his pres- 
ence, and the escort of maidens went in to make merry in the 
dance. Let it be remembered that the sexes do not mingle in 
the dance in this country. Other male guests are present. 
These seat themselves outside of the dwelling and forthwith 
tobacco and wine are produced for their delectation. We, the 
uninvited guests, unlike the one mentioned in the Parable, be- 
ing observed are given a very cordial welcome and offered a 
share of the good things of the occasion. They are not able to 
understand our prohibition proclivities, and thinking that it 
is our dislike to the kind of wine ofifered, a messenger is dis- 
patched who returns with two glasses of ordinary wine, which 
we have not the heart utterly to refuse and thereby ofifend their 
well-meant hospitality. We learned that the festivities would 
continue for a couple of days. 

The sacred sites of Jerusalem have all been visited, and 
our soul sickened at the amount of superstition and falsities 
which everywhere abound in the Holy Cit}-. Alas! it is a mis- 



EASTER DAYS IN THE HOLY CITY. 195 

nomer to call it a holy city. The Moslem, the Greek and the 
Catholic are all at sword's point with each other; and all of them 
hate the Jew. It requires the constant presence of the Turkish 
soldier to keep peace among those calling themselves Christians. 
The fanatical zeal and hate which dwell in the bosoms of this 
heathen populace is like a restless Vesuvius, ready without a 
moment's warning to break forth and overwhelm the com- 
munity with a deluge of fire and blood. The rightful owners 
of the soil are thrust out from their inheritance, and are unde^ 
the necessity of purchasing with large emoluments the privi- 
lege of an existence in the homes of their fathers. Look at them 
as they are gathered at their wailing place on Friday afternoon ! 
With a large price they have purchased the privilege of gath- 
ering at the southwest corner of the Temple wall, where a few 
of the original stones yet remain. There they assemble with 
their Hebrew Bibles to read and weep over the desolation of 
their Holy Temple. It is a pitiable sight to see the tears cours- 
ing down the cheeks of the young and the old, and witness the 
fond caresses bestowed upon the poor remnant of their Holy 
House. Even in this unfeigned grief they are made a spectacle 
unto men, for the visitor has not "done the city" until he has 
seen the Jews wailing. 

There is at the present time a remarkable movement among 
the Jews. The Sultan of Turkey has sold to the Rothchilds of 
London the privilege of sending thither 50,000 Jews, under the 
condition that they come in companies of fifty at intervals, and 
dwell in certain parts of the land outside of Jerusalem ; and the 
first company of fifty has arrived since our own coming to the 
city. By actual government statistics there are not less than 
30,000 Jews in and around Jerusalem. The signs are not few 
which indicate that the days of Moslem rule in Palestine are al- 
most numbered. There is an old tree standing within a ten 
minutes' walk of our quarters, about which the Moslems them- 
selves have a tradition that when it falls the Mohammedan 
power in Palestine is at an end. We saw the tree a few days 



196 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

since; it is nearly dead, and the only remaining live limb is sup- 
ported by a prop; and an iron band around the tree helps to 
keep in place the large limbs that manifest an inclination to sever 
their connection with the trunk. Truly, if the tradition be veri- 
fied, there remains but a few days of grace to Ottoman rule in 
this land. 

As in everything else, so in the observance of the Easter 
Period the so-called Christian church of the Holy City is di- 
vided in opinion as to the proper season for its observance. The 
Latins inaugurate the ceremonies of their Eastern week, the last 
of March this year, by a high mass on Palm Sunday, at which 
the Patriarch of Jerusalem officiates, and by the distribution of 
palm branches to the pilgrims, who carry them in procession 
several times around the Holy Sepulchre. A month later the 
Greeks and Armenians inaugurate their Easter period in the 
same manner, but with variations in the ceremonies following 
Good Friday of a decidedly negative Christian character. Sand- 
wiched in with the Latin Easter ceremonies is the Jewish Pass- 
over season. During these days the city is given up to holiday 
enjoyment, most of the shops being closed. The Holy Sep- 
ulchre is the place where all the Easter ceremonies are held. 
From six o'clock in the morning until late in the evening on 
Good Friday, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, the church is 
thronged with priests, pilgrims and sight-seers. The choral 
service is performed by two choirs, one of priests and one of 
young lads in training for the priesthood, the one answering the 
other in responsive chanting. The choral service is really ex- 
cellent, but the rest consists in numerous robings and unrobings, 
and mummeries such as must make the enthroned Savior feel 
that even now, as of old, His Father's House is turned into a 
place of evil doings. Beginning with Palm Sunday the priestly 
exhortations are supposed to be appropriate to the events of 
each day of Passion week, until the evening of Good Friday, 
when the whole tragedy of the crucifixion is enacted by the 
priestly company. A waxen image, blood stained and with a 



EASTER DAYS IN THE HOLY CITY. 197 

crown of thorns, is fastened to a wooden cross and carried at 
the head of a procession that slowly moves around the place 
of sepulture, halting at seven different stations to hear a like 
number of exhortations delivered in as many different lan- 
guages. It not infrequently occurs, as on the night when we 
witnessed the ceremonies, that some altercation takes place be- 
tween the priests of the three different factions occupying the 
church, or between the soldiers and others seeking to disturb 
the solemnities of the occasion. What a spectacle for the Mos- 
lem to look upon is this almost daily strife at the Holy Sepul- 
chre! It makes one blush for the name of Christian in this city, 
where so many abominations are done by those nominally Chris- 
tian. So great is the strife between the three ecclesiastical bodies 
in joint occupation of the Holy Sepulchre Church that on all 
important occasions the presence of the Turk with loaded mus- 
ket is necessary to keep the peace. We witnessed the ceremo- 
nies of Good Friday evening with a file of Turkish soldiers on 
each side of us. 

Some one has said (to whom to credit the wise saying we 
knO'W not) that "the conversion of the Jew and Moslem to 
Christianity can never occur until the Holy Sepulchre ceases 
to exist." Outside of the strife occasioned by its existence are 
the deceptions practiced by the priesthood upon the credulous, 
and the idolatrous worship of objects within the church. See 
that marble slab as you enter the church, with all its silver lamps 
and gorgeous trappings! It is the stone, we are told, whereon 
our Savior was laid when taken down from the cross and pre- 
pared for sepulture, and there is a constant stream of poor pil- 
grims who fondly stoop and kiss the stone, while their tears 
fall thick and fast upon it. Over in that corner about seven 
yards distant is another so-called sacred spot — the place where 
Mary Magdalene stood and watched the burial preparations. 
A beautiful chandelier hangs down over it. In the chapel of 
the crucifixion, belonging to the Greeks, we are shown an altar 
beneath which is a hole in the rock where the cross of Christ 



198 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

is said to have stood. At another place we may thrust our hand 
through a hole and feel the fissure made in the rock at the time 
or our Lord's resurrection. All of these places, with many oth- 
ers, receive the idolatrous homage of a large class of pilgrims, 
when the fact ought to be patent enough that the whole locality 
is a fabrication, so far as its being the site of the crucifixion is 
concerned. 

The Jew of Jerusalem is very punctilious in the observance 
of all the outward forms and ceremonies of his religion. The 
Passover Feast is observed during the same week as the Latin's 
Easter. Unleavened bread in thin, wafer-like sheets is used for 
a period of seven days following the Passover supper. This is 
a holy time to the Jew ; a seven days' Sabbath in which all man- 
ner of work is laid aside. The Passover supper varies a trifle 
from the old form of its observance. The lamb is no longer 
eaten; a joint of it only being placed upon the table as a re- 
minder of what once was. Since the destruction of the temple 
the slaying of the lamb and the blood sprinkling have ceased. 
A very significant omission it is, too, when considered in connec- 
tion with the slaying of God's Lamb upon Calvary. During 
the Passover week the old Torahs, which have been in use since 
the last Passover, are returned to the chief Rabbi; and if found 
defaced, or in the least degree imperfect, they are retained and 
new ones given in their place, each new Torah being carried in 
procession at night to its synagogue. The book is carried un- 
der a canopy supported by four men, women and children bear- 
ing lanterns and torches, all singing, clapping hands and shout- 
ing in the wildest glee. 

Just preceding the Greek Easter ceremonies comes the 
Moslem pilgrimage to the tomb of Moses. The Latins, Greeks 
and Armenians have each their Easter festivities and solemn 
ceremonies, and the Jew his Passover feast, and it must needs 
be that the Moslems come to the front with something to enter- 
tain or attract the public mind during the pilgrim season. Hence 
the day of pilgrimage to the tomb of Moses. It matters not to 



EASTER DAYS IN THE HOLY CITY. 199 

them that it is plainly stated in the Scriptures that "God buried 
Moses, and that no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this 
day." Tradition has located the place and erected a tomb over 
the spot on a height visible from the plain of Jericho. In the 
early morning, delegations from the various sheikdoms round 
about are seen coming into the city with several flags in colors 
of red, blue and green, borne at the head of each delegation. 
About noon all have collected, and preparations are made for 
the grand march out of the St. Stephen's gate across the Ked- 
ron and around the southern slope of Olivet. In the meantime 
the eastern wall of the city from St. Stephen's gate southward to 
the corner, commanding an excellent view of the road as it 
winds around over Olivet to Bethany, has been covered with a 
multitude of sight-seers, and thousands of the city's population, 
as well as multitudes from regions remote, are gathered on the 
sides of Olivet and the opposite bank of the Kedron. The day 
is hot and dusty, and scores of tents line the way, in which a 
portion of the multitude has taken refuge, whilst every olive tree 
in the region is affording shelter to as many as can crowd be- 
neath it. We view the demonstrations from a point on Olivet 
very near to the spot where the Savior halted on that memora- 
ble occasion when he beheld the city and wept whilst He uttered 
that pathetic lament over its fast coming doom. As we look 
over the vast multitude that covers the wall and the slopes of 
Olivet and the Kedron, we are carried back in imagination to a 
scene not very dissimilar to the present one, which transpired on 
these same grass-covered slopes nearly nineteen hundred years 
gone by, to the Passover scene of Passion Week, which culmi- 
nated in the dark tragedy of Calvary. 

But the cannon planted on yonder hill wakes us out of the 
sad reverie to a sense of things about to be. The procession 
is moving out of the city. We hear the distant drum beat, and 
soon see the waving streamers of the different companies as 
they descend from St. Stephen's gate into the Kedron Valley. 
It is a motley crowd of Arabs and Turks; and the music is of 



200 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

a nature scarcely to be imitated in our land of excellent things. 
The day closes in the city with the firing of guns and the shoot- 
ing of rockets, much in the same fashion as our Fourth of July 
evenings close. 

For days past the Russian pilgrims have been busy in prep- 
aration for the Easter ceremonies. They have been here for 
weeks visiting the holy places, and wait only to light their tapers 
at the holy fire to be gone. You see them on the streets every- 
where carrying palm branches and bundles of waxen tapers. 
This holy fire day is the day of days for the Greek and Armenian 
pilgrims, as well as for the curious visitor from Europe and far 
America. Through the kindness of our consul we obtain a 
point of view out of reach of the dangerous trampings and 
melees so common on this day. Every nook and corner of the 
church is filled with anxious pilgrims and visitors waiting for 
the appearance of the mysterious flame. 

The Greek patriarch has gone within the sepulchre en- 
closure, while the Armenian patriarch waits at the door to light 
his taper from that of his Greek brother as soon as the miracu- 
lous fire shall have been kindled. From two holes in the sepul- 
chre enclosure the flame is at length visible. Swift horses stand 
ready at the church entrance to carry messengers with the holy 
fire to Bethlehem and Jaffa, that the churches there may re- 
ceive it; whilst the vast concourse within the church rolls hithei 
and thither in wild commotion in the effort to light the tapers. 

It is ludicrous in the extreme to see the ingenuity exercised 
by some of the pilgrims in getting tapers lighted in advance of 
their fellows. They are let down in bundles from above by 
small cords and thus lighted. 

These tapers are extinguished in a little while by means 
of a cap brought for the purpose. The tapers are carried home 
and given to friends as memorials of the holy fire at Jerusalem, 
whilst the cap is retained to be buried in. These poor, simple- 
minded pilgrims of the Greek church actually believe in this 
monstrous absurdity. But it must be said that the patriarchs 



EASTER DAYS IN THE HOLY CITY. 201 

themselves no longer claim a holy origin for the fire, when the 
question is asked them direct by people who think for them- 
selves. The time is near at hand when the holy fire will be a 
thing of the past in the Greek church, just as it has already be- 
come in the Latin church. 



CHAPTER XVII I. 

THROUGH SAMARIA AND GALILEE. 

EIGHT men, twelve horses and mules, and three tents are 
the alarming amount of impediment which, it appears, 
has been thought necessary to supply the wants of 
three modest travelers like ourselves on our journey through 
this railroadless country. What an amount of backshish these 
importunate fellows will require, for in this poverty-stricken 
land, whoever does you the least service must have his back- 
shish, and the multitude who do yoii no service seem likewise 
to think that it is a proper tribute to exact from the tourist ; the 
babe in its mother's arms is taught to hold out its tiny hands 
and say backshish. The latter rains have not yet fallen, and 
the glare of the sun on the white rocks and roads make vision 
painful to the eyes; but we have wrapped our hats with fine 
white cloths to meet the emergency, and we journey in tolerable 
comfort. 

Leaving the Damascus gate, we take our journey north- 
wards over the caravan route between Jerusalem and Damascus. 
An hour's ride brings us to the ancient Gibeah of Benjamin, 
where the seven sons of Saul were murdered. Away to the left, 
sitting upon the top of a high hill, is Mizpeh, or rather the soli- 
tary mosque which marks the place where Mizpeh once stood, 
the seat of Samuel's power and judgeship in Israel. We are 
traversing the same route which the Pilgrims of Galilee used to 
travel when they came to Jerusalem to attend the national 
(202) 



THROUGH SAMARIA AND GALILEE. 203 

feasts: and about mid-day, we reach the Httle Arab village of 
El Bireh, where, tradition says, the Child Jesus was first missed 
by His parents on the return from the Passover feast at Jeru- 
salem. It seems a very likely place to discover the absence of 
the Child, for it would be about a day's journey on foot from 
Jerusalem, and there is likewise a good spring here, where pil- 
grims are still prone to halt and refresh themselves, as we our- 
selves did. The evening of our first day's ride through the land 
brings us to Sinjil. Our tents had the start of us in the morning 
and we find them already pitched when we arrive; the British 
Union Jack floats in peace and harmony with its old enemy, the 
Stars and Stripes, each from its respective tent. 

Our next day's ride is through the territory of Benjamin, 
and is enlivened by a greater variety of scenery. The naked 
limestone hills of Judea are left behind, and small valleys, green 
with growing grain, and terraced hills covered with olive and 
fig, give the landscape a habitable look. But there is one thing 
we miss everywhere throughout this semi-civilized country: 
the tillers of the soil have their dwellings in the villages, and not 
upon the land they till. The land is houseless, and wears an 
air of abandonment which it does not in reality possess. Dur- 
ing the day we pass over a hill covered with old stone ruins ; we 
halt for awhile and contemplate the situation. This is Shiloh, 
the hill upon which the tabernacle was first pitched after the 
conquest, and where the tribes were allotted their inheritances; 
where Eli lived and died, and Samuel received his call to the 
prophetic office. And it was here likewise that other sadly 
romantic little episode occurred by which Shiloh was made to 
furnish wives to the bereaved Benjaminites. Although figuring 
so largely in the history of Israel's past, it lies all desolate now; 
not even a habitation that we could see among the ruins; but 
numerous calls for backshish made us sensible that there were 
habitations somewhere in the region. Early in the afternoon 
of our second day's ride we see the tall form of Gerizim lifting 
itself up from the valley in our front; and a couple of hours 



204 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

later we are dismounted at the little walled enclosure contain- 
ing the ruins of an old Crusader church, built over Jacob's well. 

When the church crumbled into a heap of ruins the well 
was hidden from view, and partially choked with the debris; 
but now the visitor descends into a pit about ten feet deep to the 
original surface level of the well, and dropping a stone down 
into its dark depths, ascertains that there are yet about fifty feet 
of the well's depth unfilled with rubbish. The places through- 
out Palestine to which tradition, or the Latin church, has as- 
signed some sacred site or event are countless, and many of 
them are of a doubtful character; but here at this well side one 
may sit and feel that he is upon sacred ground. Here, while 
He rested His wearied body, the very Son of God gave to the 
Samaritan woman the water and bread of life ; and here He must 
have stopped on other occasions, because the well was by the 
side of a public highway leading from Galilee to Judea, over 
which He must more than once have passed. The traditional 
tomb of Joseph a short distance northward is more likely to be 
the real one than the one at Hebron. Turning westward at 
this point we ride up the valley between Ebal and Gerizim, and 
in twenty minutes are at our tents, pitched just under the east- 
ern wall of Nablous, the ancient Shechem. 

'Tis a lovely vale we have just ridden through; old olive 
trees adorn the way, whilst Ebal and Gerizim, with their sacred 
associations, lend not a little attraction to the way. See yon 
vast amphitheatre shaped hollow in the side of Ebal! Now 
look across this narrow valley to a point exactly opposite on the 
side of Gerizim, and you see a similar shaped hollow. If they 
had been made by art instead of nature the places could not 
have been better adapted to the great Biblical event which we 
believe to have taken place at these two identical places. The 
whole width of the valley between these two places is not greater 
than three hundred yards, and the acoustic nature of the place 
is such that two persons may converse with each other across 



THROUGH SAMARIA AND GALILEE. 205 

the intervening space in a still atmosphere. Nablus is said to 
contain about 13,000 people, largely Mohammedans, and not 
of the best reputation. 

Two soldier guards do duty around our tents during the 
night. But whilst physical means may be used to restrain the 
unruly elements in man's nature, it is powerless in the contest 
with the natural elements, as we found in the experiences of 
the night, for the wind beat, and the rain poured, and our frail 
tabernacle came down over our heads. But next morning 
came to us bright and smiling as though nothing had happened, 
and we took our way over a new government road — one of the 
few good ones in Palestine — towards the hill of Samaria, com- 
ing in about two and a half hours to the modern village of 
Sebaste, a miserable little Arab village occupying the hill on 
which the city of Samaria, once the capital of the ten tribes, 
stood. The hill rises from the level of the valley surrounding to 
the height of about three hundred feet, and is nearly three miles 
in circuit. It is a magnificent site for a city. No wonder that 
Herod laid hold of it and made it the beautiful city that he did. 
We counted not less than seventy marble columns still upright, 
but with their capitals gone, of the original colonnade which 
Herod built around the city; and numbers of others half buried 
and prostrate. At the western end of the hill are sixteen more 
upright colunms, all that remain of Herod's palace; and down 
at the lower edge of the hill on the north side are other buildings 
of Herodian origin. On the eastern edge of the hill are the 
ruins of St. John's church, the walls of which still stand from 
Crusader times. A small dome rises up out of the church which, 
according to the tradition, covers the remains of the Baptist, 
Elisha and Obadiah. Casting our vision down into the valley 
eastward, we can easily trace the course of the frightened Syri- 
ans on their way towards the Jordan valley on the night when 
the Lord fought for poor famished Samaria, and sent her the 
good news of deliverance by the lepers. 



206 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



Descending from the hill of Samaria into the plain on the 
north, we ride through a fertile looking little valley, leaving on 
our right at the distance of about a mile the ancient Dothan, 
now only a heap of ruins. Limestone hills alternate with small 



.«.#; 




RUINS ON THE HILL OF SAMARIA. 

green valleys during the larger portion of this day's ride. About 
mid-afternoon we enter a plain some three miles in length by 
one in breadth. Evidently Samaria has not suffered so much 
by the delay of the latter rains as Judea, for the barley and 
wheat look quite flourishing in the region through which we 



THROUGH SAMARIA AND GALILEE. 207 

are now passing. Jenin is reached in time to enable us to as- 
cend a high hill close to where our tents are pitched and take a 
survey of our surroundings ere the sun has gone down from 
sight behind the ridge of Carmel. Is it not a lovely vision? 
We never saw a grander one. There at our feet is the beautiful 
plain of Esdraelon, stretching from the mounts of Gilboa on the 
east to Carmel on the west, a distance of twenty-four miles. 
Level as a table and as green as a garden, it is a picture of love- 
liness amidst the naked sterility of the country which we will not 
soon forget. At the foot of the hill upon which we stand is 
Jenin, supposed to be the En-gannim of Joshua 19:21, one of 
the cities which fell to the lot of Issachar in the division. This 
is the utmost northern limit of Samaria. On our right stretches 
the range of Gilboa mountains, so fatal to Saul and Jonathan. 
On the far side of the valley fronting us is Little Hermon ; look- 
ing past Little Hermon on the west, we see the hills of Naza- 
reth, and at the western end of the valley tall Carmel lifts his 
green ridge up next the sea. In the morning we break camp, 
ride through the valley to its eastern side and are shown at a 
little distance down in the valley the fountain of Gideon, where 
the three hundred men were selected at whose hands the Midian- 
ites sufifered such defeat. See the silver thread-like stream as 
it winds its way through the valley in its flow from the fountain ! 
It was just in that locality that the Midianitish host lay en- 
camped. And now our journey lies across the plain a distance 
of about ten miles to the foot of Little Hermon, or the hill of 
Moreh. The first village in our way is known by the natives as 
Zerin, but it has a much deeper interest to the traveler when he 
understands that it stands upon the site of ancient Jezreel, the 
city made infamous by the wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel, and 
which was the scene of the last tragic act in the lives of this pair 
of evil-doers. Many stirring scenes have taken place in this im- 
mediate locality. The wild Prophet of Carmel has traversed 
this ground, bearing messages of coming woe to wicked rulers-, 
armies, both ancient and modern, have met in the shock of 



208 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

deadly combat. In this immediate locality Kleber held the army 
of the Turks at bay until his little handful of soldiers was rein- 
forced by the arrival of Napoleon. We come after a few min- 
utes' ride to SuHm, the Shunem of Elisha's time, where he found 
such kind hospitality at the hands of a certain lady, and where, 
as the course of events rolled around, he brought back to life 
the dead son of his kind entertainer. We find here a nice foun- 
tain in the midst of a lemon grove, and take our mid-day rest 
and refreshment under the shade of the lemon trees. Passing 
around over the left shoulder of Little Hermon, we enter an arm 
of Esdraelon ; and following the road leading along the base of 
the mountain on the north side, we are soon at the village of 
Nain, noted in our Lord's life as the place where He restored 
to life the only son of the poor widow. Farther on a half hour's 
ride and we are at Endur, the Endor of King Saul's time, where 
the witch is said to have conjured up the form of the dead Sam- 
uel. Crossing this arm of the Esdraelon plain, which extends 
in a northeasterly direction to Tabor, which may be seen from 
this point, we are among the Nazareth hills, and an hour of slow 
up hill riding brings us in sight of Nazareth. 

We rejoice at the sight as though we were looking at the 
face of a long absent friend; for years have flown since the de- 
sire first took possession of our soul to look upon the places 
made sacred by our Lord's youth and manhood, death and 
resurrection. Nazareth is a modern looking city; the red tiles 
on the roofs of so many of its buildings give it quite a cheerful 
look from a distance. It is hill-encircled on all sides, and tries 
to climb by terraces the highest hill on its western side. Later 
on we are shown the place on one of these terraces near to where 
the present English Orphanage building stands, from which 
the attempt was made to hurl our Savior by His ungrateful 
townmen. We are likewise shown the workshop which Joseph 
and Jesus are said to have used. It appeared to us wondrously 
fresh and whole for so old a building. Near to it is shown the 
Synagogue in which Christ preached and offended the Naza- 



THROUGH SAMARIA AND GALILEE. 209 

rcnes at the time when they led Him forth to cast Him over the 
hill. The house and kitchen of Mary were visited; they look 
like caves hewn out of solid rock. Of one thing we are sure, 
the modern American housekeeper would think her lot in this 
world a very hard one if she had to carry on her domestic func- 
tions with no better house accommodation than tradition as- 
signs to Mary. There is an old and very copious fountain ad- 
joining the places just mentioned, to which, doubtless, both 
Mary and Jesus have often gone for water. It is the only foun- 
tain in the town and is constantly thronged with the maidens 
and women of the town who have come thither with their water 
jars for water. It is marvelous with what skill these women 
carry the water jars on their heads. The rain falls again in tor- 
rents during the first night of our stay at Nazareth. May Judea 
also share in the blessing which Galilee is now receiving in these 
rains, for her cisterns are most woefully in need of replenish- 
ment. There is an excellent institution for the education and 
training of Arab girls in Nazareth; it is under the care of the 
English Episcopal church. At present there are eighty girls 
under training. These schools are the real efficient missionary 
agencies in this land. Let the homes have Christian mothers, 
and Christ will soon be known and reverenced throughout the 
land from which He is as yet practically excluded. 

We leave Nazareth with the rain still falling at intervals 
in light showers. We ride into Cana of Galilee dripping with 
the almost constant rain-fall since leaving our tents. We take 
refuge in the Latin Convent, visit the church, erected, it is said, 
over the spot where occurred the miraculous change of water 
into wine. The village of Keffer Kenna — the modern name of 
Cana — is an indifferent little Arab place, with nothing to make 
it noteworthy save the one traditional fact above alluded to. 
We are not a little surprised and amused by a little Arab boy, 
almost an infant, who, coming up to where we were standing 
and innocently looking up into our face, commenced to sing in 
his infant's English, "Jesus loves me, this I know," etc. Some- 



210 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




THROUGH SAMARIA AND GALILEE. 211 

body is keeping the light burning here, we thought. After 
hinch in the Convent we take our departure from Cana; and 
about the middle of the afternoon we are passing the Horns of 
Hattin, where, according to tradition, Christ delivered the Ser- 
mon on the Mount. The plain around it, over which we are 
passing, is the scene of the last great battle between the Cru- 
saders and Saracens. Here on the field of Hattin, Saladin 
struck a death blow to the power of the Crusaders in the Holy 
Land. 

An hour's ride from this point brings us to Tiberias and 
the beautiful sea of Galilee. No wonder the Savior loved it. 
It is calm as a summer morning when we reach its shore. The 
Bedouins are bringing their flocks from the neighboring hills 
to water them from the lake. It is the Jews' Sabbath when we 
arrive; and the Jews, largely in the majority in Tiberias, are 
dressed in their Sunday best. Tiberias is a dirty, ruinous old 
place, with a population of about 5,000. Our tents, by an un- 
fortunate management, are pitched within the walls; and we 
soon discover that there is a large population, of which, doubt- 
less, the census makes no note, but which are likely to tent with 
us during the night. As the sun is about to sink behind the 
western hills, we discover what we have been eagerly searching 
for during half of the afternoon ; grey old Hermon has cast aside 
the light cloud veil which has obscured his tall form during the 
afternoon, and now stands revealed in all his majesty. We 
spend the Sabbath by the seaside. 

The Scotch Free Church some time ago established a med- 
ical mission at Tiberias, of which Dr. Torrence now has charge, 
lately reinforced by Rev. Mr. Ewing and wife. We had the 
pleasure of meeting with them in their Sabbath service, and also 
of meeting a son of the famous Dr. Guthrie, of Scotland, a bar- 
rister from Edinburgh who, like ourselves, is a pilgrim in the 
region. It was pleasant to join with these brethren in a service 
of worship on the shore of this beautiful lake, so fraught with 
memories of the Incarnate God. He loved to linger on its 



212 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

shores. Here He uttered some of His most wonderful dis- 
courses, on its shores found four at least of the Apostles, and 
gave healing to multitudes of diseased bodies. Surely these 
dwellers by the sea lacked not evidence of His Messiahship in the 
wonders He wrought in their sight and hearing! And yet those 
awful woes under which Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin 
have withered into nothingness, were all deserved; for they be- 
lieved not, in spite of the evidence which His works furnished of 
His Messiahship. 

What a melancholy contrast between these shores as we see 
them now and as they were in the Savior's time. Then, there 
were nine populous town? on the shores of the sea, and its wa- 
ters were alive with fishermen's boats and boats of commerce. 
Whole fleets of war vessels in the time of Josephus used to cut 
its waters, and engage in deadly strife upon it. But now you 
look in vain for its towns. A few scattered columns and boul- 
ders, almO'St hidden by tall thistles, at Tell Hum, are supposed 
to belong to Capernaum. Magdala — the modern Mejdel — is 
a squalid little Arab village. Tiberias, a new town and the 
residence oi Herod when the Savior taught upon the lake shores, 
is only a shattered ruin. An earthquake in 1837 threw down 
its walls and killed the half of its population. On the eastern 
and southern shores nothing but ruins are found. About a 
dozen small boats are now found on the lake. Did not He who 
spake as never man spake say it should be so? and need we any 
other evidence of His divinity than this, that the history of these 
shores was spoken by His lips long years before the events them- 
selves which go to make up the history were actual occurrences? 

About a mile south of Tiberias, past the ruins of the old 
Herodian palace, are the Tiberias Hot Springs, famous for their 
health-giving properties as far back as the time of Josephus. 
Whilst our tents are striking on Monday morning we ride down 
the shore of the Lake to investigate them. The water stands 
at the high temperature of 144° Fahrenheit, and is brackish in 
taste. It reaches the bath house from four different springs, 



THROUGH SAMARIA AND GALILEE. 



218 



having their source somewhere in the heights above. The bow- 
els of the earth appear to be in a dreadfully disttirbed condition 
all along this western shore of the Lake. There are caves in the 
clififs back of Tiberias so hot with steam vapor that they cannot 
be explored. 




FISHERMAN CASTING NET — SEA OF GALILEE. 

Our tents are to be pitched at Nazareth to-night, and they 
have gone on by a direct course, leaving us to pursue the route 
to Mt. Tabor, and thence over the hills to Nazareth. Four 
hours' riding over a broken country brings us to the foot of 
Tabor on the northern side. Thus far we have found the coun- 



214 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

try treeless, save those of a fruit-bearing variety; but around 
Tabor we find the terebinth and carob growing quite profusely. 
Tabor is a pretty mount to look upon; separated from neigh- 
boring heights, it rises up alone fourteen hundred feet above the 
level of Esdraelon. We are an hour in making the ascent over 
the zig-zag, stony way on its northern side. The scrubby tere- 
binth oaks cling to its side two-thirds of the way up. The top 
is a broad plateau, large enough for a good-sized town to stand 
upon. There is a Latin monastery and Greek church on the top 
near the eastern end, with the ruins of an old Crusader church, 
for which the Russian pilgrims seem to have a special reverence, 
for we found scores of them, men and women, down on their 
hands and knees digging and scratching away among the ruins 
for some relic to carry away with them. 

On the top of Tabor one has the finest view of Palestine 
scenery he can get anywhere in the land. Little Hermon with 
Nain and Endor a few miles to the southwest, the mount of 
Gilboa to the south, eastward the continuation of Esdraelon 
and the Jordan, westward the whole stretch of Esdraelon — the 
old valley of Jezreel, or Plain of Megiddo — with the bold Car- 
mel promontory, and to the northward the Nazareth hills with 
the town nestling in among them at a distance of about six 
miles. Such a vision of a region around which clusters so much 
of Biblical interest is one greatly to be coveted and enjoyed. 
The inner man is refreshed on the top of the Mount and we jour- 
ney on towards Nazareth. 

Our tent stakes are pulled again the following morning, 
and we make the last stage of our journey between Nazareth 
and Carmel ; Mr. and Mrs. Ridpath going up the coast by way 
of Tyre and Sidon to Beyrout, and the other pilgrim, with an 
attack of Syrian fever upon him, taking a steamer down the 
coast to JafYa, thence back to Jerusalem. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

FROM JERUSALEM TO ATHENS, VIA BEYROUT, SMYRNA 
AND EPHESUS. 

©UR Pilgrim days are over in this Land of the Bible; 
pleasant ones they have been, too, albeit there have 
been sorrowful reflections in the presence of things that 
cast a gloomy shadow over the past. But our knowledge is 
increased, our faith in the Book or Revelation fortified and our 
love for the Man of Calvary intensified by having wandered 
over the stony paths, climbed the Hmestone hills and ridden 
over some of the fertile plains of Palestine. 

Our fellow-pilgrims who accompanied us thither have gone 
on their way homeward weeks ago, and left one solitary pilgrim 
to find his way back as best he can. But one is hardly ever 
alone in such a pilgrimage as we are making; and thus it hap- 
pens that at the very outset we have an agreeable companion 
in the person of an American minister, who so feels the infirmity 
of his years that he is glad to have some more youthful energies 
to rely upon. 

It is now the early part of May, and the latter rains which 
have fallen quite abundantly since the middle of April have put 
a cheerful look on things generally. As we pass over the plain 
of Sharon on our way back to Jafifa, we notice the fellaheen gath- 
ering in the harvest. "Strange it is," remarked Father L , 

"that the machinery-man from our side of the waters has not 
penetrated the Orient with his labor-saving steel and iron. See 
(215) 



216 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

those people! reaping with the hand sickle, just as they have 
done during all the centuries since Father Abraham's time." 
"And just as they will continue to do," I answer, "until some- 
thing is invented to take the stones out of their way, and when 
the stones of Judea are gathered up there will not be much left 
of it." Too rough for wheeled vehicles, they use camels and 
ropes to get the sheaves to the threshing floor; this primitive 
floor was made, we cannot tell how many years ago, by smooth- 
ing ofif the rock. 

A day of waiting on our steamer at Jaffa gives us oppor- 
tunity to visit the Mission schools under the care of the Church 
of England, see once more the strange mixture of wailing and 
pic-nicing in the cemetery north of town and take a last ramble 
among the beautiful gardens, lemon and orange orchards of the 
town. It is night-fall when our Turkish steamer weighs anchor 
and starts on her journey up the Syrian coast. 

Next morning when we go on deck we find ourselves just 
opposite Sidon, the snowy Lebanon mountains raising their tall 
summits in the background. Two or three hours more oi 
steaming and we round the sandy point on the northern slope 
of which is situated Beyrout. There are no docks in any of these 
Oriental harbors at which an ocean vessel may land passengers 
and cargo; she must anchor out in deep water and make all 
transfers by means of small boats. There is the usual confusion 
and wild scramble for passengers among the Arab boatmen. 

From information previously obtained, we had decided on 
the Hotel Victoria, whose boat — we had been told — would meet 
the steamer. We hail the man whose boat bears the yellow 
ensign of the "Victoria," and are soon proceeding with him to 
the landing. Fearing lest we had made a mistake, we ask our 
man, who is an Italian, if the rates per day at his hotel are five 
francs, holding up five fingers as we do so; he assures us that is 
right, and we subside. But wary as we have been, a few days 
later when we come to settle our bill we find that we have been 
taken in, and our bill doubled, and no amount of plain English 



FROM JERUSALEM TO ATHENS. 217 

could make the rascally Italian landlord understand the moral 
defects of the transaction. There is another hotel "Victoria," 
a more modest and honest affair, on whose reputation our Non 
capisco man makes gain for his house; reader, beware of him 
when you go to Beyrout! And pass not by — turn around him 
if you can — the mercenary Turk who sits at the receipt of cus^ 
toms; for a little backshish he would sell his best mother-in-law. 

Beyrout is pleasant, rather neat appearing town, as Tur- 
kish towns go; and if there was any government in the land 
there would be nothing to hinder it from becoming an important 
commercial seaport. But under the present regime the Turk 
is not able even to run his own post-ofifice, for here at Beyrout 
we find half a dozen different nations keeping post-office for 
him. 

Our hotel is surrounded by gardens with a bright array of 
geraniums of all hues, and groves of palms, orange, lemon, mul- 
berry and pomegranates are scattered out over the city, giving 
the dull stone buildings an air of beauty and cheerfulness. We 
enjoy a quiet Sabbath visiting the large and prosperous mis- 
sion of the Presbyterian Church. The first service in the morn- 
ing is in Arabic, and we are present only to see how much of a 
hold the mission has taken on the Arabic mind. We were 
greatly surprised to find a large church well filled with a good, 
attentive congregation. An English service followed the Ara- 
bic, conducted by an Episcopalian clergyman. 

The mission Press, scattering its millions of pages of re- 
ligious literature in the Arabic language far up the Bosphorus, 
southward to Egypt and out into the plains of the Euphrates 
and Tigris, is a mighty factor in the great seed sowing of gospel 
truth among the Arabic races. But this is not the only axe that 
is being laid at the root of Moslem fanaticism and ignorance. 
The work of education at Beyrout and elsewhere is training up 
native teachers and preachers, from whose mouths the native- 
population more readily receive the truth than from foreigners. 
The Presbyterians have a well established college and theolog- 



218 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

ical seminary in the city under the care of the Jessups. There is 
also a well conducted and patronized Ladies' Seminary which is 
doing a good work. 

Leaving Beyrout by the Austrian Lloyd steamship "Mi- 
nerva" on the evening of the 7th, the next morning at daybreak 
we are abreast of Cyprus. The regular fortnightly steamer lies 
too a day at this Island, but being a special, we pass it without a. 
halt. Barnabas hailed from this Island. It is now in the pos- 
session of the English, and unless the interior is more fruitful 
than that portion of it which we see along the southern coast, it 
must prove a barren possession; but it is doubtless held as a 
check on the Dardanelles. Another twenty-four hours' steam- 
ing and the Isle of Rhodes looms into view in our front. We 
give it the cold shoulder likewise, although its pretty town, shin- 
ing white amidst olive trees, make us wish that we might step 
ashore for a while. Its harbor is noted as the place where the 
Colossus of Rhodes once stood. Steaming along its northern 
coast we have on our right, but a mile or two distant, the main- 
land of Asia Minor. 

During the next twenty-four hours' steaming we have isles 
to the right and isles to the left; a constant succession of barren, 
rock upheaved isles of varying sizes, many of which are noted in 
Grecian song and legend. One above all others has a peculiar 
interest to us. Most fervently did we wish that we might not 
pass it in the night, and in this particular we are gratified. 
Southward a distance of four or five miles, Hfting its ragged top 
high above the sea, is the Island home of the banished John. 
Patmos, ever sacred in the Christian's memory, and gladdening 
to the pilgrim's eye ! How we longed to step ashore and ascend to 
the castle and town which show so prominently on its top. With 
our glasses we see that its sides are deeply rent in places, form- 
ing gorges wild and lonely. The whole Isle cannot be more 
than 20 miles in circumference. Looking out from his sea girt 
prison over the waters to the near shores of Asia Minor, and 
thinking of his persecution-tossed brethren at Ephesus and else- 



FROM JERUSALEM TO ATHENS. 219 

where, we do not wonder that the Apostle, longing to be pres- 
ent with them, and thinking of the impassable barrier of the sea, 
says of the new heaven and earth, "And there was no more sea." 

Samos soon comes into view, and is passed on our right. 
It is celebrated in heathen mythology as the birthplace of Juno; 
there the Grecian Philosopher Pythagoras was born, and for a 
long time the historian Herodotus resided on the Island and 
composed, it is said, the major portion of his celebrated history 
here. Another night of restful slumber passes whilst our ves- 
sel pursues her way through the quiet waters of the ^gean, 
and we wake to find ourselves in the Smyrna harbor. 

We have planned a visit to Ephesus for this day, and as 
we desire to go and return on the same day by regular train we 
lose no time in getting to the railway station. A ride of two 
hours over a plain covered with vineyards, fig and olive trees, all 
looking bright and fresh in their early spring attire, brings us 
to the little station of Ayassalouk, near to which are the ruins of 
ancient Ephesus. The first object that attracts the attention 
on leaving the train is the tall supporting columns and arches of 
the aqueduct which supplied Ephesus with water. But what 
are those things standing like sentinels on the top of each of 
these columns? They are storks, watching at the sides of their 
mates as they sit upon their nests. No one seems inclined to 
harm them, and they are as tame as doves. But to the strang- 
er's eye it seems a weird and fantastic sight to see those birds of 
the swamp in sole possession of these remains of ancient great- 
ness. 

But there are other evidences still of the desolation that 
has overtaken the once magnificent city of Ephesus. There are 
forests of thistles all around you as you try to make your way 
by some narrow foot-path to the tombs and columbaria scat- 
tered around. By dint of climbing and dodging the thistles by 
the way, we reach the ruins of the church of St. John. A large 
congregation is gathered within the ruinous walls of this old 
church, which, being disturbed by our approach, come swarm- 



220 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

ing out of the sashless windows and up from the roofless top in 
black clouds. The rooks are in possession; and again a sense 
of desolation and abandonment comes upon us as we contem- 
plate the old ruin and remember what it once was. Tradition 
says that the Apostle of the Apocalypse ended his days here, so 
also Luke, and that a large church was erected and dedicated 
jointly to their memories; likewise, that when too feeble to walk 
to It the aged disciple was carried into it, and tenderly address- 
ing his little flock as "little children," exhorted them "to love 
one another." Still continuing our climb up the hill we reach 
the spacious ruins of an old castle of Genoese origin. It crowns 
the top of a conical hill quite conspicuous to your right as you 
approach the station from Smyrna. 

Descending again to the plain we take the beaten track a 
mile or more out from the station until we come to the mass of 
ruins' where once stood Ephesus proper. Recent excavations, 
conducted by Mr. Wood^have brought to light the real site of the 
temple of Diana, the magnificent theatre, capable of seating 
twenty-four thousand persons, the Odeum, etc. The cave of 
the Seven Sleepers, and St. Luke's tomb, are also pointed out 
to the visitor. But all save the last two are a mingled mass of 
shapeless ruins. 

How completely has the unrepentant Ephesus experienced 
the fulfillment of the Apocalyptic message in the removal of her 
candle-stick ! Not a habitation is to be found where once her 
people moved in countless numbers. But a far different state 
of things meets us at Smyrna. It is a city of over 200,000 peo- 
ple, half of which are Greek Christians, with a fine port fre- 
quented by the vessels of all nations. True, there are some nar- 
row, crooked and dirty streets, but, all in all, it is the most hand- 
some of the cities where the miserable Turk bears rule that we 
have yet seen. It cHmbs the gradually ascending slope of Mt. 
Pagus until its very top is reached; there a castle, the walls of 
which still stand in tolerable order, occupies a large area. In the 
central ground of this castle are underground arches and cham- 



FROM JERUSALEM TO ATHENS. 221 

bers of an old Christian church, which may possibly be the one 
where Polycarp once ministered, the second one in the order 
given of the seven churches of Asia. Only a few minutes' walk 
to the westward brings us to a tall Cyprus tree beside which is 
the stone mausoleum of the martyr Bishop of Smyrna. All 
through the ages the Christian church of Smyrna has treasured 
and kept careful watch of the spot where the ashes of Polycarp.. 
were deposited. Tlie tall Cyprus that stands by the side of his 
mausoleum is a prominent object from the harbor. 

The Smyrna people we find to be a pleasure-loving lot. 
Theatres and cafes along the quay are always thronged; while 
bands of music are giving forth their harmony of song to capti- 
vate the ear and draw the piaster from the pocket. Under any- 
thing like an equitable government Smyrna would soon rise 
into the rank of the first commercial cities of the world. 

The "Minerva" is bound for Constantinople, and has on 
board a large number of pilgrims returning from the Holy 
Land, for the special accommodation of which she has remained 
at anchor in the Smyrna harbor for a day whilst the pilgrims 

visited Ephesus. Father L continues his journey in the 

"Minerva," and I am once more alone with my face set toward 
the Grecian coast. 

At noon on the 12th the Austrian steamer "Galatea" bears 
us out of the harbor en route to Athens. Once more we are 
out among the Grecian Isles. Mytilene, the ancient Lesbos, 
once the rival of Athens in literature and the arts., "Where the 
Burning Sappho loved and sung," is passed on our right, and 
swinging around a point of the mainland to the southward we 
have Scio in our front. Here we halt to land and take on pas- 
sengers and mail. Scio is called the "Paradise of the Levant," 
and its appearance from the deck of our vessel justifies its title. 
The town of Scio spreads itself over much of the eastern face of 
the Isle ; olive trees sprinkled all over the town give it an invit- 
ing appearance. Seven years ago it sufTered the misfortune of 
a severe earthquake, several thousands of its citizens losing their 



222 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

lives; no paradise without its serpent. Sabbath morning finds 
us rounding the southernmost point of Greece. The white 
columns of a ruined temple crowning the top of a small rock 
island near the shore is an intimation that we are approaching 
the land where in ages past the devotees of the multitudinous 
gods and godesses were wont to lavish their means in the erec- 
tion of magnificent marble structures, remains of which are to 
be seen in many parts of Greece to-day. 

As Piraeus, the port of Athens, comes into view, remember- 
ing our experiences with the mercenary Turk "At the receipt ol 
customs," and with the vociferous boatmen who each and all 
want to set us upon terra firma, we gird our loins for the ordeal, 
and see that our passport is in the proper pocket. But our anx- 
iety is all useless, for the friendly Greek, who proves to be an 
officer of the royal household, and whose chance acquaintance 
we had made on the vessel, took us under his protecting wings 
and the officials looked on with supreme indifiference. It is with 
a feeling of relief that we recognize the fact that our wandering'^ 
in the land of the half-civilized Turk are at an end, and that now 
we are to move among a civilized people. Piraeus is a thriving 
port of entry, with a present population of about thirty thou- 
sand. A railway connects it with Athens, trains running every 
half hour. A fifteen minutes' ride through a succession of olive 
groves, and we alight in the capital city of the Grecian Kingdom. 



CHAPTER XX. 

RAMBLES AROUND ATHENS AND CORINTH. 

HT THE Hotel Royal we find neat and comfortable quar- 
ters at a moderate expense. Our landlord is a Greek, 
and although in our college days we acquire some 
kniowledge of the classic language, yet it avails us nothing in 
converse with the modem Greek. He has made a new dictionary 
since the days of the classic writers, and while retaining the same 
alphabet and many of the words, the language of the modern 
Greek would hardly be understood by the literati of the classical 
period. But here as everywhere else we find those who com- 
prehend us in the use of English, if we do not understand them 
in the use of the native language; so we get along nicely with 
our landlord through the medium of a clerk who speaks some 
English. 

Athens is not to be compared to the cities of the Asia Minor 
coast which we have been visiting, in its lack of progressive 
spirit or cleanliness of look; nor, on the other hand, can it be 
compared to the average of European cities, in its conunercial 
activity, and rapid strides in the arts and sciences of an advanced 
Christian civilization. It occupies a mean between the two 
extremes. Not satisfied with the stolid and non-progressive 
character of its neighbors across the vEgean, and yel 
partially hampered by them in its movements, Athens is to be 
admired for her rapid advancement towards the higher per- 
fection of art and scientific attainment of her European rivals. 
(223) 



224 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

Famed in past ages as the center of civilization, of the highest 
renown in the arts and sciences, whence originated poets, ora- 
tors, historians and philosophers, such as other lands could not 
produce, she may yet recover her old position of eminence 
among the nations. 

When the visitor has looked over the magnificent ruins on 
the Acropolis and elsewhere, which have come down in hoary 
age from the Athens of Paul's day to remind the Athens of the 
present day what grandeur is yet un attained by it, he will readily 
pardon the pride of one of its ancient citizens when he thus apos- 
trophizes it: "Oh thou, our Athens, violet wreathed, brilliant, 
most enviable city." Some of our guide books describe the 
streets of Athens as most wretchedly dirty and crooked; we 
found them neither, generally speaking. There are some 
streets both narrow and crooked; but the main thoroughfares 
are of average width, well paved and clean. But this guide 
book inaccuracy only shows the lack of recent revision. The 
cities of Greece, like those of Italy, have been undergoing vast 
changes during these later years. A tidal wave of prosperity 
seems to have flowed in upon them; railroads and canals are con- 
necting them by rapid transit with the rest of Europe, and they 
are feeling the quickened pulse of the times in a marvelous 
manner. 

In traversing the streets of Athens one is reminded of his 
college days when he used to pore for hours over his Homer or 
Odyssey, for he sees Greek signs confronting him everywhere. 
Instead of the Italian Via or the French Rue, he sees the familiar 
Odos. Looking up for the names of the streets, he reads on one 
corner Socrates, on another Sophocles, on another Demos- 
thenes, etc. At the eastern end of the city is a conical mountain 
overlooking the city as well as the Acropolis beyond. This is 
Mt. Lycabettus, with a little white church sitting on its summit ; 
and thither we make our first visit as an advantageous point 
to study the city from. The toil of the ascent is well repaid by 



RAMBLES AROUND ATHENS AND CORINTH. 225 

the glorious panorama of the city and country adjacent. We 
imagine that few worshippers ever find their way to the lonely 
little church of St. George on the hill top. 

Athens, like Rome, takes a special pride in preserving the 
ruins of the older city; and as we pass through portions of the 
city where new buildings are being constructed, or levelings 
made for new streets, we notice marble busts, and great pottery 
jars that have been freshly unearthed, and vessels which the 
Athenian housewife of centuries past found a use for, all laid out 
with care, ready for transit to some of the city's museums of 
antiquities. 

Athens has few public squares that present any attraction 
to the visitor; the PI. de la Constitution, or Palace square, being 
perhaps the only exception. The principal hotels of the city 
surround it on the north and the west, the Royal Palace and 
gardens being on the east and south sides. One has a good op- 
portunity to see the Athenians in a festive mood if he visits this 
square in the afternoon of any pleasant day in early spring or 
autumn, for they gather here around small tables to indulge in 
games, gossip, and to listen to the military band that daily fur- 
nishes some excellent music. The Greek's musical attainments 
are far superior to the Turk's. The grounds adjoining the pal- 
ace are tastefully laid out and abundantly supplied with tall 
cypress trees, which, with their dark green mingled with the 
lighter hues of the pepper and other trees, give a pleasing tone 
of color to this part of the city, otherwise treeless. Here the 
nightingale, under queenly protection, sends forth his morning 
song with many to enjoy but none to molest him. 

Modern Athens, apart from the ruins of her more brilliant 
ancestor, has little to detain or interest the visitor who has first 
made the tour of the continental cities; but in the gigantic mar- 
ble ruins which cover the Acropolis hill, and a few old temple 
and theatre ruins which surround it, she has an attraction which 
is not excelled even in Rome itself. Let us take a day around 
the Acropolis in communion with old Athens; and as we jour- 



226 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



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RAMBLES AROUND ATHENS AND CORINTH. 227 

ney thither it will be well to approach it on the north side and 
inspect some other antiquities equally as interesting as those 
that crown the top of the hill. 

Here is an old temple in a wonderful state of preservation, 
when its age is considered. It is the Theseum, justly considered 
the most perfect specimen of architectural beauty in existence. 
It was built 469 B. C. by Cimon, son of Miltiades, for the recep- 
tion of the bones of Theseus when they were brought from 
Scyros. It antedates the Parthenon by about thirty years. It 
is built of Pentelic marble in the Doric style of architecture. 
Thirty-four columns, each 3 feet 4 inches in diameter and 19 feet 
high, surround the building, making a covered portico the en- 
tire circumference of 298 feet. Earthquakes have shaken the 
columns, throwing parts of them a little out of joint; and the 
Turk has left his destroying marks upon it; but when viewed 
at a little distance these imperfections are not noticeable. 

Continuing our ramble around to the west side, we mount 
a flight of old stone steps cut in the rock and stand within a very 
few yards, in all probability, of where Paul stood when he made 
his memorable address to the much perturbed Athenians con- 
cerning the "New Doctrine." Mars Hill, or the Areopagus, is a 
low rock hill on which the highest judicial court of Athens was 
accustomed to hold its nocturnal sessions. The Athenians of 
Paul's day, and long before his day as well, were accustomed 
in their genial climate to out of door meetings. Not only was 
this true of their judicial gatherings, but it was likewise true of 
their religious meetings, and places of public entertainment, as 
we shall have occasion to notice. We are interested in this 
place, and cannot forbear imagining an Athenian audience 
just below and ourselves the orator of the occasion; and in this 
effort we can assure the reader that we had rapt attention; not 
the least disrespect was shown us by our grey-headed audience. 
And was it not even so in Paul's time? Here the most weighty 
decisions in matters pertaining to religion and the state were 
given ; here criminals of the highest order were given their trial 



228 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



and received their sentence. "There was everything," say Cony- 
beare and Howson in their Life of St. Paul, "in the place to in- 
cline the auditors, so far as they were seriously disposed at all 
to reverent and thoughtful attention. Whether we contrast the 
intense earnestness of the man who spoke, with the frivolous 
character of those who surrounded him, or compare the certain 
truth and awful meaning of the Gospel he revealed with the 
worthless polytheism which had made Athens a proverb on the 
earth, or even think of the mere words uttered that day in the 




ATHENS. 

clear atmosphere on the summit of Mars' Hill, in connection 
with the objects of art, temples, statues, and altars, which stood 
round on every side, we feel that the moment was, and was in- 
tended tO' be, full of the most impressive teaching for every age 
of the world." 

Striking the carriage way that v/inds up the western face of 
the declivity, we follow it until it gives way to the footpath 
which leads us up to a vaulted Turkish gateway; passing 
through this tunnel-like entrance we find ourselves upon a ter- 
race with a number of buildings and gateways, through which 



RAMBLES AROUND ATHENS AND CORINTH. 229 

we pass to steps leading up to the Propylae or grand entrance 
to the mins on the summit. To give a description of this grand 
gateway that would do it justice would require a chapter by it- 
self; suffice it, therefore, simply to say that it was built of Pen- 
telic marble and extended across the whole western end of the 
Acropolis, 170 feet; begun in 437 B. C, it was finished in five 
years. Five portals still remain, and until the 14th century the 
whole remained in a good state of preservation. Marble blocks 
and columns lying in one mingled mass of ruin over a large area 
now meet our gaze. 

At the northeast angle of the ruins are the remains of the 
Parthenon. Look and admire, for you will see nothing like it in 
the wide world; "The finest edifice on the finest site in the 
world." Here was attained the highest perfection in architect- 
ural art; and the sculptor's art, as well, reached its culminating 
point under the hand of a Phidias in the adornment of this 
Minerva temple; finished in 438 B. C, it remained in good pres- 
ervation until the Venetian siege, about the middle of the 17th 
century, when the explosion of a powder magazine tore ofif the 
roof and left the grand temple only a mass of ruins. The temple 
was 243 by 108 feet, with 46 supporting columns of pure white 
marble 36 feet in height with a diameter of 6^ feet. Within it 
stood the gold and ivory statue of Athenae Parthenos — Minerva 
— 47 feet in height, the work of Phidias. The British museum 
has enriched itself to a considerable degree by a large portion of 
the frieze which once adorned this most magnificent temple. 

Tliere is an Athenian tradition concerning the Lyccabetus 
hill which the cloud of ravens that we have disturbed in our 
visit to the Parthenon brings to remembrance. Athena was 
bringing the rock to Athens to form a bulwark for her citadel, 
when a raven caused her such sudden surprise by announcing 
the birth of Ericthonius that she dropped the rock where we see 
it now, and in resentment for the bird's officiousness, forbade 
his race to roost on the Acropolis; but now, in defiance of the 
goddess' prohibition, the bird would be sole master of the situ- 



230 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 



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RAMBLES AROUND ATHENS AND CORINTH. 231 

ation, if it were not for the hawks and kestrels which dispute 
possession with him. The Parthenon, situated on the eastern 
edge of the rock hill, occupies the highest point of it, 300 feet 
above the level of the city. The walls which encircle the top 
edge of this rock precipice are as old as the time of Miltiades and 
Themistocles, with later repairs by Venetians and Turks. We 
might well tarry much longer on this interesting hillto examine 
other temple ruins of note, but there are yet several objects of 
interest at the southern foot of the hill that will claim attention, 
so we had best make our way down to them. 

Descending to the foot of the Acropolis on the south side, 
we find the well preserved remains of two theatres, the Odeum 
of Herodes Athicus, with seating capacity for six thousand 
persons, the theatre of Dionysus, with seats for thirty thousand 
spectators. The seats in this latter theatre are well preserved, 
the lower tier being marble settees intended for the priests, with 
a central chair for the priest of Dionysus. This theatre was 
completed by Lycurgus about 340 B. C; and we see the same 
seats, occupying, doubtless, the same position as they did in the 
time of the builder. It seems incredible that a poor pilgrim of 
the 19th century should seat himself in the same identical seat 
that an idolatrous priest of the 4th century B. C. had occupied; 
but we are certain that he did. Within a few minutes' walk of 
the theatre stand fifteen columns belonging to the temple of 
Zeus Olympus; one other column lies prostrate, being over- 
thrown by a gale in 1852. This temple was begun in 530 B. C, 
but owing to frequent interruptions was not completed until 
135 A. D. One hundred and twenty columns, each 64 feet in 
height by 7^- in diameter, originally surrounded the structure; 
and the columns that remain, of the Corinthian order, still retain 
their capitals. 

Turning our steps now in a southwesterly direction, a walk 
of half a mile brings us to an old monument which, from its 
prominent position and height, has doubtless awakened our 
curiosity while we were upon the Acropolis; it is the monument 



232 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

of Philopappus, erected to the memory of a Syrian of note, some- 
where between 105-115 A. D. It is in a ruinous state, and 
king Time is likely to get the better of the old structure before 
another century passes. In the eastern side of this Philopappus 
hill is the so-called prison of Socrates; whether real or fictitious 
we know not. It is a triple-celled grotto cut in the face of the 
hill, and, judging from its general contour, more likely to have 
been a rock-hewn dwelling than the prison of Socrates. In 
this immediate region there are remains of a large number — 
about eight hundred — of rock-hewn tombs and dwellings which 
are, by some authorities, supposed to have formed a part of the 
primeval Pelasgic city. 

Near to the prison of Socrates on the north is the hill Pnyx 
where the Athenian orators used to address the multitudes. 
Here we find a smooth rock platform capable of accommodat- 
ing seven or eight thousand persons. These assemblies of the 
Athenians, as also on Mars Hill and in the Dyonysian theatre, 
were all in the open air. The Bema and stone steps leading up 
to it are still in place; indeed, they can't well get out of place, 
for they are cut out of the rock itself. 

We have made hasty visits to most of the antiquities of 
Athens, and ere we leave Greece we are desirous of visiting the 
Isthmus of Corinth to see what may be seen of old Corinth. 
We are sorry now that we did not plan a little better in reference 
to our journey back to Italy. Instead of going round the south- 
ern coast of Italy by steamer from the Piraeus, we might have 
taken train from Athens by way of the Isthmus and Gulf of Co- 
rinth to Patras, and thence by steamer to Brindisi. In this 
way we could have visited Corinth without retracing our steps 
back to the Piraeus; but circular tickets purchased at Rome will 
compel the longer sea journey. Let other travelers make note 
of this; for tourist agencies usually consult their own profit 
more than the traveler's convenience and economy. 

Taking an early morning train, we are off for a day's excur- 
sion to Corinth, distant forty-four miles. We soon reach the 



RAMBLES AROUND ATHENS AND CORINTH. 233 

Pass of Daphni, with Mts. Poikilon on the right and ^galeus 
on the left. Emerging from the Pass, our route leads us along 
the northern shore of the Elusinan Bay. Looking southward, 
our eyes fall upon the waters of Salamis, and, at the left, the 
point of ^galeus, where once , . , i 

" A king sat on the rocky brow 
Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis, 
And ships by thousands lay below. 
And men and nations — all were his I 
He counted them at break of day. 
And when the sun was set, where were they?" 

Here it was that Xerxes witnessed the memorable battle 
of Salamis, when he sought to crush the Athenian fleet by the 
multitude of his vessels which filled the Bay; and noting each 
valiant deed that was performed by individuals of his fleet, he 
would inquire who they were, and where they lived, who did 
such valiant deeds, that he might properly reward them when 
the victory was won. He did not dream that "The battle is not 
always to the strong," and that at the close of the day he would 
be despoiled of the fine fleet that he deemed invincible. 

The ride along the edge of the cliffs looking down into the 
sea is truly a most enjoyable one. Below us about one hun- 
dred and fifty feet, are the clear blue waters of the sea 
lying on this calm spring morning in perfect quietude. We 
are soon crossing the isthmus separating the Gulf of Corinth 
from the Bay of Elusis. A canal, over which we pass, is now 
in process of construction, which, when completed about two 
years hence, will very considerably shorten the sea route from 
Athens to the Italian coast. Three hours of ride and we arc at 
the modern village of Corinth. Westward about two and a half 
miles we observe a steep rock mountain rising 1,700 feet above 
the plain level, encircled on the summit by an old wall. This 
is the Acro-Corinth ; and at its base on the northern side lie all 
that is left of old Corinth. A miserable little village at the base 
has grown up among the ruins. Seven columns of an old tem- 
ple constructed about 500 B. C, standing erect, are the most 



234 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

noticeable of all the ruins. Corinth, it is said, once had a mil- 
lion of people, and the whole plain round about was covered 
with the city. 

The city is of special interest to us because of its associa- 
tions with Paul's life. He toiled at his craft of tent making here 
for eighteen months, preaching the gospel of the Crucified 
One to the wicked Corinthians. They were wicked, exceed- 
ingly so; for we find the Apostle in the letters he afterwards 
wrote them making reference to things done among them that 
were a shame even to name; and the history of its people, as we 
gather it from profane sources, goes to prove that Paul had 
reason enough to write of them as he did. 

It is just harvest time; and the Greeks, men, women and 
children, are gathering in their harvest, reaping with the primi- 
tive hook sickle. But we wonder,as we look at the rock-strewn 
soil, at the fine fields of grain growing upon it. We are ambi- 
tious to climb the huge rock of the Acro-Corinth, for we are told 
that the vision from the top is not excelled elsewhere in Greece, 
but we have been guilty of a little piece of imprudence, which 
we warn others who visit the place not to commit, in wasting 
our time and strength in walking to the place from the station 
at new Corinth, so that when we are partially up the steep in- 
cline we find ourselves lacking in the two particulars mentioned. 
We content ourselves with a refreshing draught from a fine 
spring that comes flowing out of the side of the rocky citadel, 
and in pantomimic conversation with some of the harvesters 
who take their noon day lunch at the spring. 

There are some very unique costumes among the Greek 
peasantry. Here are men with short skirts coming down to the 
knees, much after the fashion of the stage actress's dancing 
costume. These skirts are of a white cotton or linen texlure, 
apparently of half a dozen folds in thickness. A long sock and 
heavy shoes complete the attire to the extremities. Were it 
not for the masculine countenance of the wearer, it would puzzle 



RAMBLES AROUND ATHENS AND CORINTH. 235 

US oftentimes to tell male from female, owing to the similarity 
of dress. 

As we turn away from Corinth with a lingering look at the 
huge rock that we have not been able to surmount, Byron's 
"Siege of Corinth" comes into remembrance with a renewed 
interest: 

'' Many a vanished year and age, 
And tempest's breath, and battle's rage, 
Have swept o'erCoiinth; yet she stands, 
A fortress formed to Freedom's hands. 
The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock. 
Have left untouched her hoary rock. 
The keystone of a land, which still, 
Though fallen, looks proudly on that hill, 
The landmark to the double tide 
That purpling rolls on either side, 
As if their waters chafed to meet. 
Yet dance and crouch beneath her feet. 
But could the blood before her shed 
Since first Timoleon's brother bled. 
Or bafHed Persia's despot fled, 
Arise from out the earth which drank 
The stream of slaughter as it sank. 
That sanguine ocean would o'eiflow 
Her isthmus idly spread below ; 
Or could the bones of all the slain. 
Who perished there, be piled again. 
That rival pyramid would rise 
More mountain-like, through those clear skies. 
Than yon tower-capp'd Acropolis, 
Which seems the very clouds to kiss," 




CHAPTER XXI. 

FROM ATHENS TO LONDON, THROUGH NORTHERN ITALY 
AND THE ALPS. 

|ES! we are glad that we have paid a visit to the land of 
the Greek, even if we have seen it to a limited extent 
only. We have tasted of the delights of his land in suf- 
ficient measure to whet our appetite for a more thorough ac- 
quaintance with it at some future time — when it can be reached 
by an air line passage through the clouds — perhaps. We carry 
away a friendly feeling for the Greek, for he has treated us 
kindly and given us full value for all our money. He does not 
keep a horde of beggars on his streets to make life miserable 
for his tourist friends. Not a beggar have we seen in Athens 
during our stay of nearly a week. Unlike his Turkish neigh- 
bor who regards you with a scowling countenance even while 
he is drawing his daily sustenance from you, he greets you with 
a pleasant smile, which we may receive as his speech of welcome. 
These reflections upon the Greek character are noted down 
as we sit upon the deck of the "Taormina" watching the prepa- 
ration for departure. The "Taormina" is an Italian vessel, and 
not as good as some others of the same line that we have voy- 
aged in. Her crew are Italians, and there is not a man on board 
who speaks any English save the first mate and chief engineer, 
both of whom seem desirous to make the voyage as pleasant 
as possible to the solitary American passenger. 

(236) 



FROM ATHENS TO LONDON. 237 

All goes well until we have passed over the Saronic Gulf; 
but as we round Cape Malea at the southern point of the Pelo- 
ponnesus, a hurricane of wind strikes the vessel on the starboard 
side and sends her over on her port side at a very uncomfortable 
angle for one who wants to stay on deck. The Cape is well 
named Malea, for from of old it has had an evil reputation, 
whence arose the proverbial saying among the ancient Greeks, 
"After doubling Cape Malea, forget your native country." Just 
to our left at this point is the island of Cythera, the first one of 
the Ionian Islands among which our course now lies. 

The large island of Zante stands directly in our front as 
we go on deck on the morning of the second day out. The 
town of Zante stretches for a mile and a half along the shore 
of the semi-circular bay on the eastern side of the island. The 
Italian calls the island the "Flower of the Levant"; and it does 
wear an island beauty of no mean character as we view it in 
our passage. An hour's steaming brings us abreast of Cepha- 
lonia, the largest one of the Ionian islands, having a circum- 
ference of over one hundred miles. It is an island of convents, 
there being over twenty of them, holding about one-sixth of 
the cultivated land of the island. Opposite the northern por- 
tion of the island, with a narrow strait betwixt, is the Island 
of Ithaca, so celebrated in Homeric song. It is a small, rocky 
island not more than seventeen miles in length by four in 
breadth. Homer well describes it as — 

"Horrid with cliffs, our meager land allows 
Thin herbage for the mountain goat to browse." 

Santa Maura — the Lucadia of ancient times — Paxo and 
Antipaxo, and Corfu, are passed on the second day from 
Athens, and in the early morning of the third day, the Sab- 
bath, the white stone buildings of Brindisi are in sight. The 
vessel lies here all day attending to cargo, and we improve 
the opportunity of a ramble through the old town. No place 
of worship could be found, save the cathedral, in which we 



238 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

have not learned to feel at home. Brindisi is the least inter- 
esting place for a tourist to visit of any place we have seen. 

Pulling anchor again at ten o'clock p. m., Bari is entered 
early the next morning, where another halt is made long 
enough to enable us to look the town over. It is an over- 
crowded town, with no attractions for the visitor save an 
excellent harbor and a lively port; eight ocean steamers are 
at anchor, busy loading and unloading cargo, as the "Taormina" 
comes in. A brief halt is made at Ancona, and we have the 
open sea before us until we end our voyage at the Queen City 
of the Adriatic. 

The dangers of the Adriatic are safely passed after a five 
days' steam from Athens, the last one of which upsets the stom- 
achs of our passengers most completely. How the foaming sea 
did dash its huge waves up over the deck! We are glad when 
the tall spires and towers ol the City of Waters comes into 
view. We tarry a couple of days to see what new thing under 
the sun can be found in this most unique of all European cities. 
She seems to rise right up out of the waters, for her hundred 
isles on which her foundations are laid are all hidden by the 
solid masses of buildings. 

One would think that Venice must be a very unhealthy 
city by reason of the large lagoons which lie around her on all 
sides save the sea side; but the water being salt, no malarious 
influences are felt. The tall tower of St. Mark's Cathedral 
and the Campanille are conspicuous from a long distance sea- 
ward. As we come in from the sea. and steam up the grand 
Canal we begin to observe the peculiarities of the city. The 
long black gondolas are shooting around through the waters 
everywhere. There are said to be over four thousand of these 
water carriages in Venice. One looks in vain for horse or 
carriage, street car or bus. Not even a dog to break the silence 
of the night with his endless bark. What a blessed relief this 
is, too, to one fresh from Oriental cities; for there he learns 
to hate a dog if he never did before! The Oriental canine 



FROM ATHENS TO LONDON. 



239 






-^^ 



* =m 



^^ 




GRAND CANAL, VENICE. 



240 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

sleeps all day and wakes up at nightfall to join in the chorus 
of barks that everywhere make night hideous. Little narrow 
canals cut their labyrinthine way between rows of dark houses 
in every direction. These are crossed at intervals by steep 
little bridges for foot passengers. Venice is not without its 
streets, exceedingly narrow though they be. The Venetian 
can wander around in his gloomy city wherever he pleases with- 
out having to resort to the gondola; but none but a Venetian 
should undertake it, for the stranger will most assuredly lose 
himself. 

We have found our way by the aid of a Venetian to our 
hotel quarters at the "Lena," near to St. Mark's Square; but 
we are very sure that the feat could never have been performed 
by ourselves, uninitiated as we were in the intricacies of the 
narrow, tortuous streets of this water-logged city. The narrow 
stone ways squeezed in between the canals and lofty buildings 
lead us at all angles through the city, suddenly coming to an 
end at times, and passing us over a small arched bridge 
to the opposite side of the canal. The situation is unique, 
novel beyond description; but the novelty soons wears of? 
when we find that we dare hardly venture beyond the limits 
of our surroundings without getting lost. That would not be 
so much of a mishap if we could accost thei first man or woman 
we met and have our bewildered faculties readjusted; but when 
each and all answer "non-capisco" we realize that we have 
about as much hope of deliverance as the man in the woods 
who has again and again made a complete circle only to be 
confronted by his own track, when he thought himself making 
a bee line for home; yes, reader, we know how it. feels from 
personal experience! 

Perhaps it isn't just the right thing to say in print, about 
a city for which so much admiration is expressed by others, 
but we shall be rash enough to ignore the fashion and say 
that the walls of a prison in our own roomy country would 
present just as attractive a home to us as to be immured in 



FROM ATHENS TO LONDON. 



241 




ST. MARK'S, VENICE. 



the heart of sunless Venice 
and be compelled to stay 
there. What object the 
original founders of Venice 
had in building it out upon 
the waters we cannot im- 
agine, unless it was for de- 
fense; and if this was the 
reason they planned wisely, 
for the weapons of prime- 
val or mediaeval times 
would have proved power- 
less against her, unaided by 
strategy. But for modern 
warfare, when she could be 
shelled from the mainland, 
she is as much at the mercy of her enemies as if she occupied 
a coast position. 

But there are some interesting things to be seen around 
Venice; so let us see them, and be gone. St. Mark's Square 
is one of the few places in Venice where an unstinted meas- 
ure of sunlight may be enjoyed; and thither the Venetians re- 
sort in great numbers in the afternoon and evening to listen 
to the excellent brass band which nightly furnishes music, 
or to sit under the arcades of the palatial buildings which sur- 
round the square on three sides, sipping cofifee, reading news- 
papers or enjoying a general tete-a-tete. Here the visitor may 
see the elite of the Venetian society, in rich and fashionable 
attire — for even the Parisian could not pay stricter attention 
to fashion than do these Venetians — and they appear to enjoy 
life about as well as the people of the more brilliant city of 
fashion. 

As we stand on this Square, between one and two o'clock 
p. m., we are witness to an interesting little circumstance which 
may be seen on almost every afternoon of the year. Clouds 



242 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

of dun-colored doves collect on the cornices and portico roofs 
of the surrounding buildings for their regular two o'clock 
feeding. The visitor on the Square at the time above men- 
tioned is most generally prepared with some grain which he 
holds out in his hand, and so tame are these doves that they 
will flock down and alight upon his head, shoulders and arms, 
until he is literally covered with the birds, so eager to feed 
out of his hand that they alight one upon another, knocking 
each other off in the effort to get the grain. But note the fact 
that when the great clock in the tower close by strikes the hour 
of two the doves are all gone in an instant back to the cornices 
and portico roofs; for this is the hour of their regular feeding 
by the city. The people of Venice cherish a tradition that six 
hundred years ago a certain admiral gained a signal victory 
. through the medium of carrier pigeons, and those we have seen 
fed on the Square are a sort of pensioned descendants of the 
admiral's birds, whom the people feel a pleasure in preserving 
and feeding. 

The cathedral at the eastern end of the Square is one 
of the principal attractions of Venice. It was built early in the" 
tenth century, in the form of a Greek cross, its greatest length 
five hundred and seventy-six feet, with a width of two hundred 
and sixty-nine feet. The mosaic work of the interior, wrought 
into pictures, covers an area — it is said — of about fifty thou- 
sand square feet. The entrance is under an archway of antique 
columns, mounted here and there upon the capitals of each 
other. Over the entrance you will also see the only horses 
to be found in Venice; they are of gilded bronze, however, in- 
stead of flesh and blood, said to be the work of some Roman 
of the time of Nero. They have seen a great deal of the world 
in their day, having traveled to Constantinople in Constantine's 
time, and to Paris in Napoleon the First's time, and back again 
to their present position in 1815. 

The Palace of the Doges is the pride of Venice, and it 
contains enough of art and architecture to keep the visitor in- 



FROM ATHENS TO LONDON. 



243 




terested for hours. Just at 
the back of the Palace is an- 
other object in which we are 
interested, the poet's 
"Bridge of Sighs," which 
ties into a sort of marital re- 
lation the Ducal Palace and 
the old Prison. The nat- 
ural surroundings of the 
place as well as the recollec- 
tion that many a poor fel- 
low took his last look of the 
outer world from that air 
suspended passage way, be- 
tween what might be fitly 
termed the connecting link 
BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE. between hope and utter 

despondency, has a tendency still to make the heart sad. 
Lord Byron, it is said, tried a dungeon in the old prison long 
enough to impart somewhat of the prisoner's feeling to him, 
which he puts into verse as follows: 

"I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs; 

A palace and a prison on each hand; 
I saw from out the wave her structure rise 

As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand: 
A thousand years their cloudy wings expand 

Around me, and a dying glory smiles 
O'er the far times, when many a subject land 

Looked at the winged Lion's marble piles, 
Where Venice sat In state, throned on her hundred isles!" 

Leaving Venice we take our way westward over the beau- 
tiful Lombardy plains, just now in all their vernal freshness, 
and in seven hours we are in Milan. A handsome city Milan 
is; the more so when we put it in contrast with Venice. Beau- 
tiful parks, equal to almost anything that we find around Lon- 
don, adorn the outer edges of the city ; one in particular would 



244 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

make a very fair heaven upon earth if sinless creatures alone 
walked 'neath the shade of its beautiful chestnuts, or lounged 
beside its running waters, lakelets and cascades. Here the 
beauty, wealth and chivalry of Milan are wont to show them- 
selves in the early evening. But the incomparable excellence 
of Milan is its wonderful Cathedral. Nothing like it have 
we seen in all Europe, in its richness of exterior. As we stand 
on its roof and contemplate it, we marvel at the ingenuity of the 
brain that devised it. A perfect forest of marble pinnacles 
rises from its roof. Some five thousand statues and statuettes 
spring up from pinnacle, roof and sides, and there are places 
for several thousand more; and all this is marble. Viewed 
in its interior it scarcely equals St. Peter's; but, all in all, it is 
the monarch of Cathedrals. To describe it so that the reader 
may get an adequate idea of its magnificence is a hopeless task. 
Its erection was commenced about five hundred years ago, and 
it is .still receiving additions from year to year. From its 
tower, which rises three hundred and sixty feet above the level 
of the street, one of the most magnificent views in all Italy 
may be enjoyed. The visitor is permitted to ascend. 

Northward next we take our way, and in a little less than 
two hours we are at Como. Now we are leaving the beautiful 
in art, and coming to the beautiful in nature. We take a lit- 
tle steamer in waiting and glide out upon the placid waters 
of the lake to enjoy to the full the magnificent mountain scenery. 
Backward and forward across the narrow lake, scarcely more 
than i^ miles wide in its broadest part, our little steamer goes 
to drop ofif and take on passengers at the numerous villages 
fining each shore. Some fifteen miles up the lake we, in our 
turn, drop ofif at the town of Menaggio and take a train in cor- 
respondence, and in three-quarters of an hour we are at Por- 
lezza, on Lake Lugano. Another steamer is in waiting, and 
twelve miles' ride down the lake betwixt snow-crowned moun- 
tains, down whose furrowed sides come the waters of the melt- 
ing snow, falling in cascades into the lake, and we arrive at 



FROM ATHENS TO LONDON. 



245 




>.^ 



MILAN CATHEDRAL. 



246 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT, 

the town of Lugano, where we halt for a quiet Sabbath day's 
rest. Well may the tourist afiford to spend a day or two in 
this most charming region in communion with nature, for it 
is refreshing to both soul and body. 

On Monday we take our departure over the St. Gothard 
route, passing for a whole day through the grandest of Alpine 
scenery. Now we are whirling along the ridge of some lofty 
mountain, looking down from a height of several thousand 
feet into a valley through which winds a silvery stream, now 
rushing out of some dark tunnel to enter an iron bridge span- 
ning some deep gorge in the mountain's side; now a rapid run 
and a snake-like twist down the mountain side, emerging some- 
times from the mouth of a tunnel which, seen some little time 
from our mountain height, was deemed to belong to some other 
line of railway running below us, now down in the valley look- 
ing up at the white mountain tops from five to eight thousand 
feet above us, and watching the cascades, small and great, as 
they pour their foaming waters over dizzy heights; thus varied 
is the journey we make this day, a constant delight to the lover 
of natural scenery. We are twenty minutes in passing through 
the famous St. Gothard tunnel, nine and one-fourth miles in 
length. Fifty-six tunnels in all were found necessary in the 
construction of this railway, the whole a marvel of engineer- 
ing skill. 

At Basle we make a day's halt, but finding little to interest 
us, take our departure for Strasbourg on the following day. 
We visit the Cathedral, which is noted chiefly for having the 
tallest church tower in the world, and the most wonderful clock 
in existence, which is at the same time a self-acting theatre, 
the whole scene of the denial of our Lord being presented at 
twelve o'clock each day, and a complete astronomical apparatus, 
all the motions diurnal and annual, of the heavenly bodies 
being observed in a perfect clock-work movement. We make 
the passage of the Rhine across the pontoon bridge to Kehl, 
from which the Germans bombarded Strasbourg, and return 



FROM ATHENS TO LONDON. 247 

to view the fortifications, which have the reputation of being — 
with the one exception of Gibraltar — the strongest in all Europe. 
We have reserved this visit until the last, and events yet to be 
narrated proved the wisdom of so doing, for we were in too ill 
a humor with Strasbourg hospitality after the occurrence of 
said events to pay any farther attention to it. 

It will be remembered that Strasbourg is a city acquired 
by the Germans from the French in the struggle of '71 ; its 
former possessors being as determined to win back the lost 
province of Alsace and Lorraine as the present ones are resolved 
to keep a firm and abiding grip upon them. And thus a jealous 
vigilance is maintained on the border which bodes no good to 
those who wilfully or inadvertently tread upon the Dutchman's 
toes. 

It is six o'clock in the evening when we stroll forth from 
the hotel "Victoria" to look over the fortifications, preparatory 
to a leave-taking the next morning. A small squad of sol- 
diers is visible at a point ahead of us where the road leads 
through the earthworks; but it is not the soldiers we have come 
to see, and taking a footpath that leads by a zigzag course up 
the ramparts we soon have the satisfaction of knowing that 
we have scaled the ramparts of this Gibraltar-like fortress 
without the loss of a single man, and we are in the quiet en- 
joyment of our victory when a single company of German in- 
fantry charge up the hill and demand a surrender; consider- 
ing the superiority of the force thus suddenly thrown upon us, 
it is deemed the better part of valor to haul down our colors. 
As a prisoner of war we appear before an officer at the gate- 
way which we have but a few minutes before shunned, who ap- 
pears to be in an inquisitive mood, although we understand 
not a question he asks. The fact of the matter is, he and 
all his subordinates are Dutchmen, whilst the prisoner is an 
American, and each knows nothing of the other's language. 
Happy thought! why not try him in French? they think; 'Tarle 
vouz France?" they ask; "non parle France, uno Anglaise," 



248 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

we answer, perversely. A messenger is dispatched for some 
one who speaks English, who, after fifteen minutes of wait- 
ing, puts in an appearance; but his English is about the size 
of our Erench, and the fact that a passport is wanted is about 
all that we can make out of the Dutch-Englishman. We seizt 
on that fact and sling our yah, yahs at him until we start forth, 
as we suppose, for the hotel "Victoria," where the passport 
is to be found in a valise. But alas! it's before another pomp- 
ous Dutchman that we appear, who will not be convinced that 
we are not a gentleman of linguistic ability, and who, in high 
dudgeon because we will not answer his questions, in either 
German or French, leads us ofif through a dark hallway, turns 
a key in a door and ushers us into prison quarters for the 
night. 

Horrid the stench of that room! It will remain in our 
nostrils for many a year to come, if we live so long. Loath- 
some that piece of crawling humanity lying on a board plat- 
form on which we are expected to rest for the night! We 
are in a generous mood at this moment, and we mentally yield 
him the whole, broad, hard platform for the night. Yes, and 
he can have the whole of the room, too, if it shall lie in our 
power to be so generous. A note to the landlord of the "Vic- 
toria" is hastily prepared, and given into the hands of the turn- 
key, who is summoned by a rap on the iron window. He says, 
"Yah, yah," when we try tO' make him understand that it is to 
go immediately to the "Victoria." An hour passes; Oh, joy! 
deliverance is surely come, we think, as we hear the key turn- 
ing in the lock; but it is only another bedfellow, a filthy tramp 
who rejoices in being able to get in out of the rain. The two 
Dutchmen are quite at home, apparently, and are soon in the 
land of dreams; but, reader, the other fellow wasn't at all 
sleepy, and so he tried first to make himself think that he was 
on guard duty over the Dutchmen, and put on a very martial 
air as he paced to and fro in his narrow cell. But the imagina- 
tion would break once and awhile under its load, and the awful 



FROM ATHENS TO LONDON. 249 

fact that he was a soldier who warred not with carnal weapons 
against flesh and bood, but with spiritual weapons againsi 
the rulers of darkness, etc., and a preacher of righteousness, 
behind the bars as an evil-doer, would obtrude itself and take 
possession of the whole man for a time. 

And so the hours wore on as he marched and counter- 
marched through his cell, until midnight, when he sank from 
sheer exhaustion upon the corner of the platform, where his 
two fellow-prisoners were happily oblivious of all worldly cares, 
and in a moment was with them in the land of dreams. But 
there were emigrants on the persons of his friends who im- 
proved the opportunity to take a "stow away" passage on 
the American pilgrim's neck, which fact soon came to the con- 
sciousness of the pilgrim, and placed him once more on guard 
duty, which position he held until eight o'clock the next morn- 
ing, when a proper investigation of affairs revealed to the hu- 
miliated Germans the mistake they had made in taking an 
American clergyman for a French spy. How they did apolo- 
gize for the blunder! but it was hard to mollify our wrath, 
especially at the turnkey, who failed to deliver the note to the 
landlord of the "Victoria" until the morning. Our host quickly 
came to our relief when he found out the situation, and to his 
friendly interest in no small measure we owe our prompt dis- 
charge. 

We are glad to say good-bye to our German friends at 
the earliest possible moment; and it is a fact which the pilgrim 
is not loth to put on record that he cares not whether he ever 
sees any portion of the Dutch Empire again or not. Belgium 
and Holland receive only a passing glance as we hurry on to 
Antwerp. A day is passed in this pleasant and prosperous 
city, when we take our departure across the dreaded Channel 
to Harwich. Our fears in regard to the Channel prove ground- 
less, for we have a pleasant passage occupying a night, and a 
couple of hours by rail in the early morning lands us once more 
in London. . 



CHAPTER XXI L 

RAMBLES AROUND GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND STIRLING. 

OC ONDON again! It seems an age since we left the city 
^J^j on our rambles through the Orient, so much ground 
has been covered, and so many things seen that were 
new to the Occidental eyes, that it seems scarcely possible 
that all could have been done in the eight months of our ab- 
sence. True it is, that we are longer lived than the ancients, 
when life is measured by what is accomplished in it rather than 
by its years. We have performed a feat in these months that 
would have required as many years for the traveler of even 
a century ago to accomplish. The world is being wonderfully 
tied together by bands of iron, waterways across desert sands, 
and the swift moving monsters of the deep, which have little to 
fear from either wind or wave. 

A few days' stay in London before entering Scotland en- 
ables us to make a visit to Windsor Castle, not in the hope 
of seeing the Queen, for it is the fact of her absence that gives 
the ordinary visitor access to the Castle and grounds around 
it. For this reason we could not make our visit to it last 
autumn when we were in the city. The Queen is now at the 
Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and Windsor is open to visitors 
on certain days of the week. The Castle is about an hour's 
ride by train from the city; the little town of Windsor nestling 
close under its protecting walls. The Windsor trades-people 
teil us that they are glad when the Queen goes away, for then 
(250) 



RAMBLES AROUND GLASGOW. 



251 




HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, LONDON. 

they have a tourist trade which is not possible when she is at 
home. From the Round Tower within the Castle walls may 
be had a very fine and extensive view of the surrounding coun- 
try. Just across the Tliames, northeast from the Castle, is 
Eton college, with its finely laid out grounds, and the old Wil- 
liam Penn mansion ; and farther on in the distance is a church 



252 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

Spire which marks the place where "Grey's Elegy in a Country 
Church Yard" was written. The Castle itself is a massive pile 
of grey stone buildings, interesting as a royal residence for 
many centuries. In St. George's Chapel we find some very 
handsome marble memorials of the Prince Consort, Duke of 
Albany, and others of the Queen's household. The Chapel 
now known as the Albert Memorial Chapel was once Cardi- 
nal Wolsey's tomb-house; but Cromwell despoiled it of its 
wealth, and in recent times it has been refitted in royal style, 
and is now the Chapel where the Queen worships, when she is 
at Windsor. A visit to the royal stables, where the little white 
horse which the Queen drives herself is quietly enjoying his 
vacation, is made, and a ram.ble through the stately forest of 
Windsor ends our visit to the Queen's Castle. 

We take our journey into Scotland by the London and 
Northwestern railway, which closely follows the western coast 
all tlie way. The journey of four hundred and twenty-five 
miles is made in nine hours of daylight riding, and we enter 

Glasgow in time to seek our friend A. 's suburban residence 

in Rutherglen. before his good wife has cleared ofif the family 
board. We are among friends once more, and our tour 
through this Land of Romance and Song is to have the addi- 
tional profit and pleasure of our friend's company in many 
of the delightful rambles which we have planned to make. 

Since boyiiood's early days our heart has turned lovingly 
and longingly towards the land where fearless Knox and faith- 
ful Covenanter have given a deathless testimony to "The truth 
as it is in Jesus." We are especially fortunate in the time of 
our visit, for the Glasgow Exhibition is open; and it is to be 
presumed that the best the Kingdom affords in the realms of 
the fine arts and industrial manufactures will be visible here 
at this time. Our first visit is, therefore, to the Exhibition, 
and the Bishop's Palace is our first attraction. This is a sort of 
an antiquarian's museum, beginning with the very architecture 
of the Palace itself. Here arc collected together relics of the 



RAMBLES AROUND GLASGOW. 253 

feudal age, of Scotland's civil and ecclesiastical history, of men 
and women who fell in noble strife for the right, as well as those 
of a more ignoble character, the sad fates of many of whom 
have touched the world's heart with pity for them. Here are 
relics of Mary Queen of Scots, a lock of her hair, some auto- 
graph letters and other mementoes of the unfortunate Queen. 
Yes! and here is a relic we would travel a long distance to see^ 
a pjible once owned by Scotland's Covenanter Prophet, Alex- 
ander Peden, of whom we shall make further mention in the 
next chapter. And here is another relic which carries us back 
into Covenanter days, the original parchment of the "Solemn 
League and Covenant." That document, signed with the 
blood of man) whose names appear upon it, and which gave 
the most of the heroic band that signed it martyrs' crowns, is 
one well woithy the pride which the Scots feel in its possession 
and preservation. 

A second visit gives us an entire day in the main Exhibi- 
tion building, where a nation's arts and industries are well 
represented. The ship building industry, for which the Clyde 
is so justly famous, makes an attractive exhibit. Models of 
ocean steamship yet to be built, of mammoth proportions and 
superior to anything yet atloat in point of speed, gather admir- 
ing crowds around them. When one sees the Cyclopean shafts 
of these ocean Leviathans laid bare, as we have a chance to 
do in the Machinery Hall, he is astonished at the power nec- 
essary to drive a steamship at the rate of speed attained by 
some of the best of the Atlantic liners. No wonder is it when, 
plunging like a war horse in her battle with the waves, she 
throws her stem clear up out of the water, exposing the screw, 
that the great vessel trembles from stem to stern with the shock 
of the liberated screw. 

Glasgow is second to none in the United Kingdom as a 
manufacturing city, and all ]>ranches of manufacture are Vv^ell 
represented in the Exhibition. It is a good place for boasting 
Jonathan to spend a few days. He will have the good sense to 



254 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

see that though he may excel the sturdy Scot in the inventive 
faculties, he is no equal to him when it comes to putting inven- 
tion into material form, more particularly when that form re- 
quires the steel and iron rolling mills to put it into shape. Glas- 
gow may not be called a pretty city, when placed in comparison 
iwith other cities of the United Kingdom, but it is one of the 
busiest cities we have visited. Its tall smoke stacks rise like a 
forest of dry and topless trees out of city and suburb. Almost 
every line of manufacture is carried on in the community, and 
in some instances the manufacture is of vast proportions. 

To see Scotland at its best one would need to visit it in 
the month of June or July. Its sea-girt situation gives it a 
damp, chilly atmosphere at other seasons, not at all agreeable 
for the many pleasant tours that may be made in the summer 
season over ground that is full of historic and romantic inter- 
est. It was our own plan to make Glasgow the center of our 
tourings; for it has the advantage of water and rail communica- 
tion with most points of interest to the tourist; and we know 
not, after having tried the plan, what better course to advise 
those to take who may hereafter visit Scotland with a view of 
seeing it thoroughly and economically. In an economic point 
of view, one may see more for the least money in Scotland than 
in any other part of Europe or the Orient that we have passed 
over in our journeyings. If the reader will give us his com- 
pany now, we will take him on an excursion through the High- 
lands and Trossachs, and he will see how much can be accom- 
plished in four days. 

One may reverse the tour we are about to make^ — that is, 
take one of David MacBrayne's elegant little excursion steam- 
ers at the Broomielaw in Scotland, descend the Clyde to the 
entrance of Loch Long, continuing on up the Loch to In- 
versnaid, thence by coach to Loch Katrine, and thus qn to 
Edinburgh, and return to Glasgow, all this in one day, if he 
choose to pass Stirling and Edinburgh so hastily. 



RAMBLES AROUND GLASGOW. 255 

Going to the Caledonian railway station, we purchase a 
second class ticket, fare for the round trip $4.15, and take an 
evening train for Edinburgh, distant forty-seven miles. It is 
Saturday evening, and we shall spend the Sabbath in this 
handsomest of Scotch cities and observe what attention the 
people give to the Fourth Commandment. Edinburgh is a 
city of churches, furnishing one for every 1,700 of her popu- 
lation, or 155 in all, 104 of which belong to the different bodies 
of the Presbyterian organization. Our first visit is to the his- 
toric old St. Giles, where John Knox, the Elijah of the i6th 
century, stood in fearless defense of the truth, and hurled his 
fierce anathemas at the Godless occupants of Hollyrood. The 
spirit of the stern Reformer would fire up at the High Church- 
ism of the place at the present time, were it permitted to re- 
enter the old Sanctuary. It was here that Jenny Geddes so 
sadly disturbed the composure of the Dean by hurling her stool 
at his head, when he commenced to read the Ritual. Jenny was 
righteously indignant, for she mistook the Liturgy for the 
Mass, and she had seen enough of Prelacy and Popery to show 
her the hollow formality of such worship. St Giles' is the old- 
est sanctuary in Edinburgh, originating some time in the 14th 
century. It has passed through a number of transformations 
until we find it in its present shape, under the control of the 
Established Church of Scotland. On the south side of the 
church is a simple square stone slab sunk in the pavement, with 
the initial letters, J. K., 1572, on it, marking the spot where 
rests in peace from all polemical strife Scotland's great cham- 
pion of religious truth and freedom, John Knox. A little dis- 
tance eastward on High street is the John Knox house, the old 
home of the Reformer with some modern renovations. It is 
owned by the Free Church, and kept as a sort of shrine for the 
pilgrim's visit; and well worth our v^'hile it is to enter and con- 
template the home surroundings of the Reformer. The old 
study, finished in heavy panelled oak, is kept as nearly as pos- 
sible as Knox used and left it. 



256 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

A Free Church and a Y. M. C. A. service in the afternoon 
and evenmg close a quiet Sabbath in a city whose foundations 
are evidently laid in righteousness, for its equal in a Sabbath 
keeping point of view we have never yet found. The princi- 
ples of the great Reformer, clung to so tenaciously and at the 
price of much blood by the Covenanting people of Scotland, 
have taken deep hold on the nation's life, and given it a strength 
and power truly healthful and beneficent. Well did England's 
historian remark "That the principles which Knox created 
saved Scotland." 

Monday also we devote to sight seeing in Edinburgh. 
Scarcely three-fourths of a mile distant from the Knox House, 
at the foot of Canongate street, is old Holyrood Palace. It 
is open to the visitor. The Palace has a history running back 
to 1 1 28 A. D., which would be interesting for us to read up in 
connection with our visit; but our interest in it lies largely in 
its connection with the life of the unfortunate Mary Queen of 
Scots. Sad memories come up to us in our rambles through 
its halls and rooms. The Queen's apartments were on the 
second floor on the northern side of the Palace; and here we 
see her bed, with its coverings falHng to pieces from age. 
Here also are chairs covered with embroidery, the work of her 
own hands and those of her maids of honor. See those dark 
stains on the floor just outside the door of the Queen's Cham- 
ber! It was here that the nmrderous daggers of Ruthven and 
Darnley, with their minions, drank the life blood of Rizzio, 
the Queen's favorite; a bloody piece of work which undoubt- 
edly cost Darnley his life at the hands of his Queen. Could these 
old chambers we are traversing speak of what they have seen, 
what a record of tears, hopeless sighs, plots, and deeds of blood, 
would they unfold! There-is a long gallery, 27x150 feet, filled 
with portraits of the Scottish kings, which, however, possess 
but little of artistic merit, and we hastily pass through it and 
out into the roofless Chapel at the north side of the Palace. 
In this Chapel Lord Darnley and Queen Mary were wed. In 



RAMBLES AROUND GLASGOW. 



257 




258 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

a vault beneath the south aisle lie the remains of David II., 
James II. and his Queen, James V. and his Queen, and their 
second son, the Duke of Albany, and Lord Darnley. Solemn 
and stately does the old Palace of Holyrood stand, a monument 
to dark deeds and an unfortunate Queen. 

Edinburgh is not specially noted for its monuments, but 
the Scott monument on Princess street is doubtless one of the 
handsomest reared to poet or novelist; and its beautiful park 
surroundings lend it attraction. 

Our next visit is to the Edinburgh Castle. All the history 
of the city is more or less intimately connected with the Castle. 
This huge rock fortress has been used for defensive purposes 
from a period more remote even than the beginning of the 
Christian era. It has been the birth-place and residence of 
kings and queens, the scene of many a bloody encounter. It 
has been captured by assault and strategy, burnt and dis- 
mantled, times without number. Poet and novelist have woven 
it into song and romance, until it would be hard to find a school 
boy or girl in the Kingdom unfamiliar with its history. Ad- 
mittance is freely given to visitors, and if we come within the 
hours specified for the purpose, we can visit Queen Mary's 
room, and the Crown room, where the Scottish Regalia is 
kept. On the outside, on the loftiest edge of the northern cliff 
is situated the King's Bastion. Here Ave notice a famous 
specimen of medieval ordnance, the great gun called Mons 
Meg. It measures twenty inches in the bore, and is composed 
of long pieces of hammered iron held together by coils of iron 
hoops. It was used at the siege of Norham Castle in 1497; but 
it uttered its last roar in 1682 in a salute to the Duke of York, 
when it was burst in the discharge. This is the best portion of 
the citadel to view the city surroundings from. Yonder at the 
northeast corner of the city is Calton Hill, with the Burns 
monument showing in the foreground. Tlie Scots are trying 
to make this hill an imitation of the Athens Acropolis, and have 
begun a National Monument modeled after the style of the 



RAMBLES AROUND GLASGOW. ; 269 

Parthenon, but which has come to a halt in the building from 
a lack of funds. Eastward is Arthur's seat, with the Abbey 
and Palace of Holyrood at its northern base. Below the 
Castle Hill to the northward is the deep ravine which separates 
the new town from the old. Art and Nature are here com- 
bined in rendering this ravine an attractive spot with prettily 
laid out gardens. 

Descending from the Castle Hill eastward until we come 
to St. Giles, and then southward on George IV. street, we come 
to the Greyfriar's Square, a spot ever memorable in the history 
of the Reformed faith in Scotland. In Greyfriar's Church was 
first produced "The Solemn League and Covenant," and after 
a sermon by Alexander Henderson it received the signatures 
of the Congregation, and was then passed out to the multi- 
tude assembled in the church yard, and signed, as we are told, 
"On the flat monuments, amidst tears, prayers, and aspirations 
which could find no words, some writing with their blood." 
Near by rests the preacher of that occasion, and near to him 
the Covenant's restless enemy, Sir George Mackenzie, with 
many of the worthies who bled for their attachment to the 
Covenanting cause. A pleasant city is Edinburgh; and as 
we say good-bye to it, we cannot find more fitting language 
to express our own admiration for the queenly city than that 
of Christopher North, who says: "Weigh all its defects, de- 
signed and undesigned, and is not Edinburgh a noble city? 
Arthur's Seat! how like a lion! The magnificent range of 
Salisbury Crag, on which a battery might be built to blow the 
whole inhabitation to atoms! Our friend here, the Calton, 
with his mural crown! Our Castle on his clifY! gloriously 
hung roimd with national histories along all his battlements! 
Do they not embosom him in a style of grandeur worthy, if such 
it be, of a City of Palaces?" 

" Ay, proudly fling thy white arms to the sea. 
Queen ol the uncoiiquered North." 



260 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

From Edinburgh we take an early morning train for Stir- 
ling, passing through Falkirk, the scene of some noted battles 
in the time of Robert Bruce. At Stirling one may put in a 
busy day in visiting the Castle, field of Bannockburn, the Wal- 
lace monument on Abbey Crag, and Cambus Kenneth Abbey. 
Around the Castle centers many a stirring scene in the lives 
of Wallace and Bruce. On the way up to the Castle we visit 
the Chapel in which Queen Mary and her son, James II., were 
crowned; then passing through a cemetery once used as a tour- 
nament ground, we observe a number of memorial statues of 
noted Covenanter leaders, James Renwick, Andrew Melville, 
Eben. Erskine, John Knox, and others. But most interesting 
ajnd touching of all is a pure white marble group enclosed in 
glass, erected in memory of two young Scottish maidens who 
suffered death by drowning in the Solway rather than deny 
their faith in the Lord who bought them. We copied the fol- 
lowing inscription from the monument, which tells its own 
simple and pathetic story: "Through faith, Margaret Wilson, 
a youthful maiden, chose rather to depart and be with Christ, 
than to disown His holy cause and covenant, to own Erastian 
usurpation and "o conform to Prelacy enforced by cruel laws, 
bound to a stake within flood-mark of the Solway tide, she died 
a martyr's death, nth of May, 1685." ^ younger sister, Alice, 
suffered with her for the same cause. The monument presents 
in clear white marble two gentle sisters in youth studying the 
Word of God. By their s'de kneels a lamb, while behind them 
is the form of an angel with the laurel in hand ready to place 
it upon the brow of the maidens. 

Passing on into the Castle grounds, we notice another 
pyramidal m.onument to the memory of the martyred Cove- 
nanter. A fine statue of Robert Bruce also adorns the outer 
yard; his face turned toward Bannockburn battle field, and 
eyes and features all expressive of the keenest interest in the 
result of the struggle which he is supposed to be watching. It 
would seem as though the battle ground itself, only about a 



RAMBLES AROUND GLASGOW. 261 

mile distant, was the place for this monument, but the laird 
who owns the ground refuses to give it room, and hence its 
position on Stirling hill. In the Castle the visitor is shown the 
room where James II. treacherously slew William, Earl of 
Douglass, because he could not persuade him to break faith 
with his friends; it is called the Douglass Room. 

Northward a mile or more across the Forth, on Abbey 
Crag, stands the lofty Wallace Tower, a reminder that here 
at Stirling Castle, Wallace and his men did what was deemed 
impossible for men to do in scaling the lofty walls and taking 
the Castle out of the hands of its English masters. From the 
Castle we proceed to a Tower, which stands on a height over- 
looking the surrounding country. When, in addition to the 
height on which the Tower stands, you mount up several hun- 
dred steps higher to the top of the column, you will find your- 
self in possession of a most superb view of the Forth in its 
windings through the valley. From this position we locate 
the tower of the old Abbey of Cambus Kenneth, and forth- 
with direct our steps thither. The Abbey was founded in 1147 
by David I., and has been the scene of many stirring events in 
Scottish history. Only the tower is left standing; some of the 
remains of the foundation wall are yet visible, enabling the 
visitor to trace the circuit of the original walls. Near the 
tower, and within the space once occupied by the Abbey, is 
the tomb of James III. and his Queen, restored by Queen 
Victoria. Miss Porter in her "Scottish Chiefs," has made the 
Abbey the scene of some most interesting events. 

A visit is made next to the field of Bannockburn, twice 
fought on by Wallace and Bruce. A tall flag stafif marks 
Bruce's position during the battle. So end our wanderings 
around Stirling. A night at a quiet little hotel in Dunblane, 
a station or two farther on, where a change of cars for Callan- 
der is necessary, and we are ready for the Trossachs' tour. 



CHAPTER XXII I. 

THROUGH REGIONS FRAGRANT WITH MEMORIES OF POET, 
NOVELIST AND MARTYR. 

HFTER the first of May, the excursion arrangements 
for the Trossachs tour are so complete that we find 
coach, steamer and train all in close connection. Leav- 
ing the train at Callander we find the coach for the Trossachs 
in waiting. This coach is a sort of mongrel breed among ve- 
hicles; like nothing else we have ever seen, peculiar to this re- 
gion, we think, and as convenient and comfortable as could 
well be devised. The seats are all arranged on the top of the 
vehicle, and will accommodate about sixteen persons; a happy 
medium between the omnibus and wagon in height, it is neither 
so top heavy as to alarm the passenger when it lurches over, 
nor so low as to make him wish that he had a higher point of 
observation for the beauties that surround him. 

Our vehicle is loaded down when we leave the station; 
but our four fine horses make an easy job of it. The river 
Teith is soon crossed and following the course of a southern 
branch of the Teith for a couple of miles we come to Coilan- 
togle Ford, famous as the scene of the conflict between Fitz 
James and Roderick Dhu. 

" See here, all vantageless I stand. 
Armed like thyself with single brand; 
For this is Coilantogle Ford, 
And thou must keep thee with thy sword." 

(262) 



THROUGH REGIONS FRAGRANT. 263 

Our way now lies along the north shore of Loch Vena- 
char, a pretty little sheet of water about four miles in length 
by three-fourths of a mile wide. At the upper end of the lake 
is the spot where, at the whistle of Roderick Dhu — 

" Intent through copse and heath arose 
Bonnets and spears and bended bows; 
On right, on left, above, below. 
Spring up at once the lurking foe. 
From shingles grey their lances start. 
The bracken bush sends forth its dart." 

It is a bright, beautiful June morning, and as we enter 
the woods where little streams wind their way down the hill- 
sides through leafy ways which almost conceal them, where 
the birds are making the morning melodious with song, we 
cease to wonder that Poet and Romancer found in this delight- 
some region so much of inspiration, an inspiration which has 
clothed the whole region in a garment of imperishable glory. 
Loch Venachar is passed, and a mile farther on we reach Dun- 
craggan, which, in "The Lady of the Lake," is made the first 
tarrying place of the messenger of the "Fiery Cross:" 

" The lake is past, 

Duncraggan's huts appear at last." 

At the head of Loch Achray, which v/e soon reach from 
this point, we come to the famous "Brig of Turk," where the 
Knight of Snowdon discovered that in his zeal in the chase he 
had outstripped all his attendants — 

" And when the Brig O'Turk was won. 
The headmost horseman rode alone." 

After passing the little Loch Achray we enter the Tross- 
achs. How wild and wierd the scenery for the next few miles 
after passing the Trossachs Hotel! The name "Trossachs" 
means a "bristled" or "bristling region," and well indicates the 
character of the region. Wordsworth says of the place: 

" There's not a nook within this solemn pass 
But were an apt confessional for one 
Taught by his summer spent, his autumn gone. 
That life is but a tale of morning grass withered at eve." 



264 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

At the head of Loch Katrine, which is reached on emerg- 
ing from the Trossachs, we leave our coach for a steamer in 
waiting which convey us down the lake to Stronachlahar. 
How beautiful the prospect now before us! On the right rises 
the tall form of Ben Aan, i,8oo feet above sea level, whilst on 
the left Ben Venue climbs skyward a thousand feet higher than 
his brother peak on the right. As we glide out on the waters 
of Loch Katrine, "Ellen's Isle" quickly comes into view, and 
the little steamer is kind enough to circle around a little to the 
north and bring us close to the romantic little Isle which Scott 
has endowed with a peculiar interest in his "Lady of the Lake." 
Did Scott weave out of his imagination solely the incidents 
which he localized here on the little wooded Isle? or is there a 
historical foundation for them? History would appear to war- 
rant the supposition that it was to this identical retreat that the 
heroic Ellen Douglass conveyed the Knight of Snowdon while 
his gallant dogs followed in the wake of the fairy skiff; and it 
is this incident that the Poet describes in the following Unes: 

" Fast o'er the lake the shallop flew; 
With heads erect, and whimpering cry, 
The hounds behind, their passage ply, 
Nor frequent does the bright oar break 
The darkening mirror of the lake. 
Until the rocky Isle they reach. 
And moor their shallop on the beach." 

Loch Katrine is equal to any of the Italian lakes in its 
own natural beauty, lacking only their villas and towns to take 
away its lon^eliness; but perhaps this lack is more than counter- 
balanced by the fascination of romance and song which attaches 
to it. Glasgow draws its water supply largely from this lake. 
All the lakes thus far passed on this tour are connected by small 
streams, and find a final outlet in the river Teith. 

Ten miles on the lake brings us to Stronachlahar, at the 
western end. Once more we find our coach in readiness for 
another ride of four or live miles to Inversnaid, on Loch Lo- 
mond. Here we have time for dinner and a little sight-seeing 



THROUGH REGIONS FRAGRANT. 265 

before the steamer from the head of the lake calls for her pas- 
sengers. The Inversnaid burn pours its foaming waters from 
a height of some thirty feet into the lake at this point, making 
a very pretty cascade, which is crossed a few rods above the 
point of its fall by a rustic bridge. It was at Inversnaid that 
Wordsworth saw the "Sweet Highland Girl," whom he ha^ 
celebrated in one of his poems: 

" Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower 
Of beauty is thy earthly dower!" 

Loch Lomond is called the "Queen of the Scottish lakes :'" 
and it appears to deserve its reputation. Its length is about 
twenty-one miles, but its average width can scarcely exceed 
two miles. Around its shores are laid many of the scenes in 
"Rob Roy ;" and two miles north of Inversnaid is " Rob Roy's" 
cave, "A deep, gloomy hollow in a rugged and precipitous 
rock." Here "Rob Roy" was accustomed to collect his follow- 
ers and prepare for his desperate forays. Here also, it is said, 
Robert Bruce found an asylum after his defeat at Dalree. 

Leaving Inversnaid the steamer bears down the lake a 
mile or two, making a landing on the opposite side at Tarbet. 
Steamer is exchanged for coach again at this point for a short 
ride of two miles to Arrochar, on the northeastern corner of 
Loch Long. Twenty-four miles of steaming down this pleas- 
ant lake, with frequent landings at points along the shore, and 
we enter the Clyde, up which we can go on our steamer as far 
as Greenock, when we must leave it for train back to Glasgow. 
We have time yet for a ramble around Greenock and along its 
busy quays, where the commerce of the Clyde is handled by 
vessels small and great of many nations. Greenock's docks arc 
large and extensive, and many of the best vessels that cross 
the ocean were built in them. It is worth while to pay a visit 
to the ship building industries of Greenock. On the opposite 
side of the Clyde from Greenock is Hellcnsburgh, a pretty town 
in a fine location, and the habitation of many of Glasgow's 



266 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

business men and retired merchants. Taking a train at Green- 
ock we are brought back into Glasgow before darkness ob- 
scures the vision around us. 

■ And thus, reader, we finish the four days' tour which we 
commenced in the last chapter, asking you to note how much 
might be accomplished in so short a time at the nominal fare 
we specified. Of course to this is to be added about four dol- 
lars for expenses by the way; and then we have made one of 
the most enjoyable trips imaginable, through a region redolent 
with song and romance, and which gives us such variety of 
scenery as can be found nowhere else in Scotland. 

And yet we have another region to visit, less attractive in 
natural scenery, perhaps, but one, nevertheless, around which 
the glamor of a Poet's life is shining, a Poet whose song finds 
inspiration in the life and rural aspects of the hills of Ayrshire. 
The tour from Glasgow to Ayr and the land of Burns is easily 
accomplished in one day. An hour and a half by rail brings 
us to the town of Ayr, in the immediate vicinity of which the 
poet Burns was born. The town has a population of about 
forty thousand people, and outside of the Poet has little to in- 
terest the visitor. We may visit the old Inn where Tam 
O'Shanter and Souter Johnny were accustomed to sit too long 
over their grog, and where Burns himself lost much of the 
manly virtue which, had it been possessed in greater degree, 
would have given him brighter fame and a more loving re- 
membrance. The inn is still the rendezvous of spirits too 
convivial. We may visit also the "Auld Brig," which figures 
in Burn's poem of "The Twa Brigs." The old stone bridge 
has verified the prophecy the Poet made it utter when it replied 
to the chaffings of its newer rival, 'Til be a brig when ye're a 
shapeless ruin," for the old still stands without alteration, while 
its neighbor has been rebuilt. 

Passing out of the town a couple of miles we come to the 
Burns cottage, the Poet's birthplace. It is a low, one-story 
thatch roofed building, unoccupied by any family, but in 



THROUGH REGIONS FRAGRANT. 267 

charge of a keeper, who lives in a house joining it on one 
end. It is kept as a sort of Burns museum; and here we may 
!see the bed in its niche in the wall where the Poet first lay on 
the bosom of maternity; here also the table, clock, chairs and 
other relics of the Burns family, with an autograph copy of 
Burns' "Tam O'Shanter." On a little farther to the right of 
the road is the "Auld Alloway Kirk," where Tam O'Shanter, 
full of grog, saw the ghostly revels which filled his soul with 
terror and sent him on in headlong flight over the "Brig of 
Boon:" 

" Tam skelpit on through dub and mire. 
Despising wind and rain and fire." 

The "Auld Kirk" is now roofless, and the little bell hangs 
silent in its stone frame. In the churchyard in front we read 
the inscriptions on the stones which stand at the head of the 
graves of Burns' father, mother and sister. The Burns monu- 
ment stands on the opposite side of the road from the Kirk in 
a nicely kept garden. In a chamber of this monument we are 
shown a number of mementos of the Poet, among other things, 
the Bible in two parts which young Burns gave to his "High- 
land Mary," together with a lock of her hair. A few rods dis- 
tant, in a sort of grotto, are two sitting granite statues of Tam 
O'Shanter and his boon companion, Souter Johnny. They 
are the work of an amateur and comically expressive. Tam is 
in the midst of a hearty laugh, whilst Johnny, who has occa- 
sioned it by one of his stories, is slyly looking sideways at Tam 
to observe the eflfect of his tale. In close proximity to the 
monument is the "Auld Brig of Boon," across which Tam and 
his flying steed were hotly pursued by the ghouls. The whole 
region is redolent with memories of the Poet's life. Sad it is 
to contemplate that a genius so capable of leaving its impress 
upon a people's life and literature should so early find an end 
to its powers in the ruin of a dissolute body. But it were but 



268 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

a simple charity to hope that in the end Burns cheated his de- 
stroyer, as he promises to do in the following lines: 

"And now, Auld Cloots, I ken ye're thinkin', 
A certain bardie's rantin', drinkin', 
Some luckless hour will send him linkln' 

To your black pit; 
But, faith! he'll turn a corner jinkin'. 
And cheat you yet." 

With two fellow-travelers we leave Glasgow one pleasant 
morning for a trip to Lanark and the Falls of the Clyde. It 
is to occupy but one day, and to be made at a cost of $1.30 for 
both rail and coach fares. This is one of a series of fine excur- 
sions arranged by the Caledonian Railway Co. An hour by 
rail and we are at Lanark. It will be remembered by those 
who are familiar with the Scottish struggle for independence 
under the leadership of the brave Wallace and gallant Bruce, 
that Lanark was the scene of the initiatory struggle led by Wal- 
lace. It was here that he killed Hazelrigg, the English gov- 
ernor, whose bloody cruelty had robbed him of his wife. The 
country round about keeps the Chieftain's memory fresh in 
song and tradition. Taking our seats in a small wagon we 
commence our trip to the Falls of the Clyde. About a mile 
from Lanark the river is crossed, and another mile up the 
river brings us to a point where we leave our vehicle for a walk 
through the woods of Corehouse to the Cora Linn fall, a beau- 
tiful cascade which throws itself over a cliff eighty-four feet in 
height. The water descends into a narrow chasm with per- 
pendicular walls of rock one hundred and twenty feet in height 
O'n either side, fringed on the top with a leafy growth which 
almost hides the roaring stream. Retracing our steps we re- 
gain our wagon and drive back a couple of miles for a visit to 
the Crags of Cartland, where an old Roman bridge hangs over 
a deep chasm of the Mouse water, a hundred feet or more in 
depth. Just above this bridge is Wallace's Cave, where he 
found a refuge after the killing of Hazelrigg. It is reached 



THROUGH REGIONS FRAGRANT. 269 

by a path on the left side of the chasm, which only those steady 
in nerve and head would do well to try to follow. The cavern 
is small, and but for its historical associations would scarcely 
interest the visitor. A mile farther on down the Clyde and 
another halt is made to enable us to visit the Stonebyres fall, 
even yet more beautiful than the Cora Linn, by reason of the 
broader expanse of waters that pour over the cliffs. 

Our way now lies through a country of strawberry vines 
just in bloom, until we reach Carswell station, where our coach 
journey ends. From here a foot journey brings us to Craig- 
nethan Castle, of interest to the readers of Scott's "Old Mor- 
tality," for it is the "Tillietudlem" of his romance. It is situated 
on a steep promontory washed by the Nethan, a tributary of 
the Clyde. It is surrounded by a high wall of solid masonry 
which is in a fair state of preservation. Two towers of the 
Castle still stand, crowned by a thick overgrowth of mountain 
ash, hazel, brier and hawthorn. A large vaulted room known 
as the Queen's Room is shown, said to have been occupied by 
Queen Mary either a few nights before or after the fatal battle 
of Langside. At Tillietudlem station, a short distance from 
the Castle, we take train back to Glasgow, having had a very 
pleasant day's ramble; my two traveling companions being 
equally as delighted with the tour as myself. 

In coming to Scotland we were influenced largely by the 
motive of visiting those regions where so many of the children 
of the Covenant wandered over the Moorlands and hid them- 
selves in the deep glens to escape the fury of the human blood- 
hounds that pursued them. Our friend, whose pleasant hos- 
pitality we have been enjoying during these days of our pil- 
grimage in Scotland, being familiar with these localities, be- 
comes a companion in our travels. Bothwell Bridge, the 
scene of one of the conflicts between the Covenanters and the 
royal army, is reached by a short railway journey from Ruth- 
erglen. The old bridge has undergone many modifications 
since the days of that sanguinary conflict, so that the modern 



270 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

bridge bears little resemblance to its predecessor; but it is 
deeply interesting, both historically and by reason of its own 
beautiful surroundings. Scott has found a place for Bothwell 
Bridge in his "Old Mortality." As we stood on the bridge 
with the noisy, shallow waters of the Clyde rolling underneath 
us and contemplated the picturesque surroundings, we were 
carried back in imagination to that fatal day in June, 1679, 
when the Covenanters under Balfour of Burley, Hackston and 
others, faced the army under the Duke of Monmouth and his 
savage lieutenants, Claverhouse and Dalzell. They fought 
well, those sons of the Covenant; but they were not equal to 
the task of successful resistance before an army of well drilled 
and disciplined soldiers, and they fell like grass before the royal 
troopers, until four hundred of them lay stretched upon the 
ground; twelve hundred more surrendered, and thus ended 
bloody Bothwell for the Covenanters. 

But it was the Shires of Dumfries, Lanark and the two 
Galloways that saw most of the silent suffering and bloody 
wrongs of those dark days in the history of the Covenanting 
people, known in the history of the Scottish Church as the 
"killing time." In company with our friend we make a two 
days' tour through this region. 

Leaving the train at Abbington we are met by a relative 
of friend A 's, in whose cart we take passage for a twenty- 
five mile ride. It is one of the most pleasant of June days, and 
the air is filled with a balmy fragrance which causes both bird 
and man to feel the joy of the occasion. Arriving at Sanquhar 
we visit the place, now marked by a granite column, where was 
twice proclaimed, by Renwick and Cameron, the "Solemn 
League and Covenant." Leaving Sanquhar we soon come to 
the Crawick Glen, where many of the persecuted found a safe 
hiding place. Passing on through the Home Walks of the 
Duke of Buccleugh we follow up the wild little stream of the 
Crawick Waters as it makes its way between perpendicular 
clififs of rock, covered with shrubbery and young trees, until 



THROUGH REGIONS FRAGRANT. 271 

we come to a point where Conraik Burn gushes out of a narrow 
little glen, just here godly Alexander Paden found a hiding 
place which served him day after day as a secure retreat from 
the bloody dragoons of Lagg and Claverhouse. It bears the 
name of Peden's Glen, and is a spot hallowed by many a prayer 
and hymn of praise. 

For a couple of hours our road lies along the Crawick 
Waters, passing on the way the old home of the shepherd poet, 
Hyslop, the author of "The Cameronian's Dream," and other 
poems. "There," said my friend, indicating a certain spot by 
the way, "two Covenanters were shot and buried in their 
bloody garments where they fell." On a short distance farther, 
pointing up to some hillside spot, he would say: "There the 
troopers overtook another son of the Covenant and sent him 
home for his martyr's crown." Once and again did our friend in- 
dicate places where, overtaken by the merciless dragoons, faithful 
witnesses for the truth laid themselves down in bloody graves. 
The blood of the slain Covenanter so plentifully poured out 
in these deep glens and on heathery hillsides has brought forth 
in Scotland a rich harvest of doctrinal purity and adherence 
to the Christian faith. Long may she hold herself as pure and 
as sound in the Faith as she now is! 

And now our journeyings through the land of the Covenant, 
the bard and the romancer are at an end. Pleasant memories do 
we carry away with us of our two weeks' wanderings here and 
there in it, and a half resolve that, sometime in coming years, 
we will return, for a more perfect acquaintance is formed as we 
say our good-byes to our kind friends, and turn our pilgrim feet 
towards the Emerald Isle as our next objective point of travel. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

WHERE PAT LIVES— OBSERVATIONS IN THE EMERALD ISLE. 

HFTER nine months of continuous tramping we begin to 
realize that our travel appetite is failing us; and we 
turn with longing to the home and friends on the other 
side of the water. Our feet have grown weary under us dur- 
ing the last two weeks, and whilst the friends at home have 
been busy cultivating their crop of Indian corn, we, too, have 
been busy, in our way, cultivating a corn crop which has yielded 
us an abundant harvest of grain, constantly reminding us of 
the unlucky moment when we let our sympathies run away 
with us at Bari, and bought a pair of narrow, box-toed shoes 
of an Italian shoemaker, who boarded the vessel and persisted 
in declaring that there was neither bread nor macaroni for him- 
self or family, until he could sell the shoes. Of course we did 
not want to return to America with a feeling that our parsimony 
had let a poor Italian family starve to death, and so bought his 
shoes, and commenced to raise corn which we can find no mar- 
ket for, even if we are in Europe. If that shoemaker only had 
our corn crop we would feel a great deal better now in the antici- 
pation of a farther sojourn on Irish shores. 

At noon on the 22d of June we leave Glasgow for Green- 
ock, where the "Hare," one of J. C. Burns & Co.'s staunch little 
steamers, is taken for our trip over the North Channel to Belfast. 
Four shillings only are charged for deck passage to Belfast, 
(272) 



WHERE PAT LIVES. 273 

a half day's voyage; and voyage never had a more pleasant 
experience on the sea than fell to onr lot on this pleasant, sunny 
afternoon in June. 

Belfast is reached at eight o'clock p. m., and having made 
the acquaintance of a warm-hearted Irish farmer on the way 
over, he introduces us to some friends of his, who are glad to 
afford a modest but comfortable entertainment to the pilgrim 
at seventy-five cents per day. Our intention is to journey 
northward to Portrush, on the northern coast, before seeing 
the sights of Belfast. At 6:30 on the first morning after our 
arrival we are all ready for the steam horse to take us north- 
ward on our tour to the Giant's Causeway. The compartment 
is filled with some Irish workmen, from one of whom who sits 
next to us, we try to get some information touching home rule 
in Ireland; but a warning gesture and some whispered words 
awake us to the startling fact that free speech is too much of 
a luxury to be enjoyed in that crowd. Our friend is a Protest- 
ant, whilst the most of our traveling companions are Catholics; 
and so combustible is their make-up — so our friend informs 
us — that it would require but a spark of opposing sentiment 
to make things more lively than an Indian war dance. What 
conversation we have is carried on in an undertone when the 
rattling of the train makes it inaudible to our companions 
opposite. What a luxury to be a citizen of so goodly a land 
as that which we hail from! The more we see of other lands 
the greater grows our pride in our own freest, best of all lands. 

A three hours' ride brings us to Portrush, on the northern 
coast, and thence a half hour by electric train and we are at 
the Giant's Causeway. Running the gauntlet of guides we 
proceed across meadows, all blooming with a variety of flowers, 
until the edge of the perpendicular clififs skirting the sea is 
reached. It is well worth the tourist's while to make this some- 
what wearisome walk along the upper edge of these clif¥s for 
a mile or more that he may take in the beauties of the scenery 
which are a part and a parcel of the wonderful phenomena of 



274 



FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 




GIANT'S CAUSEWAY. 

nature lying at their feet. One looks over a sheer precipice of 
from 800 to 1,000 feet, the sides of which in some places look 
as though they were formed by driving innumerable square 
stone spiles side by side, so much do they resemble a work of 
art rather than one of nature. 

Finding a path known as the "Shepherd's Path," we de- 
scend to the Causeway itself. Here again we find the rock 



WHERE PAT LIVES. 275 

formation to resemble that of driven spiles like the cliff sides, 
with this difference, that, instead of all being square, they are 
likewise octagon and hexagon, and so closely fitted together 
as to make the whole thing to appear rather a work of human 
skill than a natural formation; and the only serious objection 
to so considering it is the enormity of the labor required to so 
construct the entire work. The building of the Pyramids would 
be a simple task in comparison. 

A few hours later in the day of our ramble along the cliffs 
a serious mishap occurred to a Belfast clergyman wandering 
along the upper edge of these same cliffs. Seeing the ground 
on which a friend was standing beginning to slip beneath his 
feet, he made a sudden spring to save his companion, and in 
doing so precipitated himself over the cliff, falling nearly a 
hundred feet in broken falls before he could succeed in stop- 
ping himself. He saved his friend, but became himself a sub- 
ject for the surgeon. 

Returning to Belfast we spent a quiet Sabbath at Dr. 
Hanna's church. From the Doctor as well as from others of a 
humbler class, we gathered some information relative to the 
much-discussed question of home rule for Ireland which very 
materially changed our views in regard to it; and although it 
is -not designed to enter the field of politics to any extent in 
these pages, yet we feel constrained to make a statement or 
two in regard to the situation in Ireland touching home rule 
and its bearings upon the Protestant Church of Ireland. The 
question is in reality more of a religions than a political one. 
The north of Ireland, as every intelligent person knows, is al- 
most exclusively Protestant, whilst the south is Catholic. Tlic 
Protestants of Ireland are almost to a man against home rule, 
whilst the Romanism of the country is equally as clamorous 
for home rule. Put this in a nutshell and it means simply this: 
Home rule in Ireland means Catholic rule, for the home Parlia- 
ment would be about two^thirds Catholic, and Catholic rule 
means to-day just what it did in the days of the Irish persecu- 



276 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

tions. For proof of this statement see the situation in Belfast 
at the present time. The city is two-thirds Protestant, and yet 
in spite of this fact a Protestant Sabbath school may not go in 
procession through its streets with banners and music without 
being mobbed; and even without these accompaniments, the 
protection of the police force is necessary when they go in pro- 
cession to the depots to take trains for excursions into the coun- 
try. Dr. Hanna's own Sabbath school of over twelve hundred 
children was going on the Saturday following our visit by train 
into the country for a picnic, and both banner and music must 
be left out in their march to the depot ; and last year this school 
was forced to abandon its usual picnic by reason of this same 
bitter hostility. Men who talked to us of the situation as we 
were traveling spoke in whispers lest their conversation should 
reach Catholic ears. Now imagine a Catholic home Parliament 
making laws for the Protestantism of the country. 

It is Irish agitators who, for the sake of personal, political 
and mercenary motives, are keeping Ireland in a state of fer- 
ment over the question of home rule. They go like firebrands 
among the ignorant Catholic population proclaiming that if 
home rule was once inaugurated the vast estates upon which 
they are now only poor, oppressed tenants would be broken up 
and each of them would have a little farm of his own. Gfeat 
as the discontent is now in Ireland, when these promises would 
fail of verification under home rule the rampant Irishman would 
paint things a redder hue than they are now. The ejections 
and lawless deeds of blood that we frequently hear of now, take 
place where the tenant, inflamed by firebrand orators scat- 
tered through the land rises up in rebellion against his 
landlord and refuses to pay his rental. The north of Ireland 
is contented and prosperous and almost unanimously agreed 
against any change in the government. Why should not mid- 
dle and southern Ireland, possessing equally fertile regions, be 
equally prosperous and content? Protestant Ireland cries out 



WHERE PAT LIVES. 277 

against home rule Parliament because it needs the protec- 
tion of the Imperial Parliament in the enjoyment of its civil and 
religious liberties. 

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ire- 
land, recently in session at Belfast, declared itself as opposed 
to home rule. The Irish Loyalists number about 2,000,000, 
and Irish Protestants about 1,200,000; all these are arrayed in 
opposition to home rule. It may be asked, then, "Why is it 
that 86 out of the 106 members of Parliament that Ireland sends 
to St. Stephen's are demanding home rule for Ireland?" Simply 
because that the Irish Loyalists are not concentrated in separate 
provinces in such numbers as to carry their candidates and thus 
be represented at St. Stephen's. The existing representation 
is therefore a gross injustice to the Loyalists and Protestant 
people of Ireland. If the representation in the Imperial Parlia- 
ment was in accordance with the real sentiments of the Irish 
people it would stand about 43 Loyalists to 63 Parnellites. 
For the sake of the Protestant people of Ireland, its peace and 
an equitable rule, it is to be hoped that the Church of America 
will not commit the foolish blunder of the last RepubHcan 
Convention in Chicago in endorsing home rule in Ireland; for 
it means more to the distressed Island than most people at a 
distance imagine. Ireland is infinitely better ofif under the 
protective rule of the mother country than she would be under 
any home rule of her own. 

A day is given to the sights of Belfast, but there is little 
else besides city to see, and after we have spent a half-day riding 
around on the tops of tram cars, and the other half-day around 
the docks, we feel as though we had exhausted our tourist in- 
terest, and was ready for another stage of the journey. Belfast 
seems to enjoy a thriving trade; her ship building docks es- 
pecially are the center of a vast amount of noise and confusion 
as the busy hammers of thousands of workmen fall with deafen- 
ing clatter on the great iron and steel planks of the sides and 
bottoms of new ocean steamers. But we are sure that we are 



278 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

not slandering the denizens of Belfast when we say that their 
city is one literally soaked in whiskey. Here the women claim 
equal rights with the men in the matter of whiskey drinking 
and tippling; and nowhere in all our rambles have we seen as 
much of this vile and beastly habit indulged in by both sexes 
as here in Belfast. Pat must cease to cry want and hard times 
in our ears as long as he finds so much to spend in gratifying 
an appetite which makes him inferior to the long-eared animal 
that we find so abundant in his country. 

Our passage is taken for Dublin on a small trading steamer 
that pulls anchor about seven o'clock in the evening and puts 
out to sea. An old tub of a vessel she is, too, that would have 
taken us to the bottom of the sea rather than into the port of 
Dublin, if old ocean had roused himself into storm fury; but 
the sea is in one of his most placid moods, and we come without 
mishap into Dublin harbor early the next morning. Our lug- 
gage goes on to the railway depot, and we are left for a day's 
ramble around the Irish capital. 

Phoenix Park, the Irishman's pride, gives us occupation 
for half-day. You would arouse the Irish in a Dublin native 
if you were to tell him that there was anything better in the 
shape of a park in the world than his Phoenix Park. And yet 
it is true that it is little better than a well-kept 1,700-acre wood 
lot, having in it seven or eight hundred deer. Its chief attraction 
lies in its shade, quiet and roadways, on which the Dublin aris- 
tocracy may display their roadsters and take a constitutional 
in country solitude. In the western part of the Park is the scene 
of the Burke and Cavendish assassinations, a spot which the 
visitor is sure to have pointed out to him by the Park police- 
men, and which ^yill doubtless ere long be marked by some 
suitable monument. 

Dublin, like Belfast, is given over to the vice of drunkenness. 
The more we see of the situation in Ireland, the more we are 
convinced that a good dose of Iowa prohibition would be of 
infinitely more value to the Irish than home rule. 



WHERE PAT LIVES. 279 

Dublin can boast of one of the best educational institu- 
tions of the kingdom — Trinity College — where we spend a por- 
tion of a day an interested observer of the sports and dress of 
Trinity students. It is to be hoped that the American college 
student will not adopt the head-dress of the Trinity student, 
which is a black cap with a square flat top like a mortar board; 
a good thing, perhaps, in the capacity of a sun shade or um- 
brella, but ill adapted to the comfort of the wearer in a prairie 
wind. 

Taking train at nine o'clock a. m. in Dublin we move 
on southward to Queenstown, where we are to meet the "City 
of Rome," on which our homeward passage is to be made. At 
three o'clock p. m., in the midst of a pouring rain, we reach 
Queenstown; where a night of rest is enjoyed whilst our vessel 
is ploughing her way over St. George's Channel from Liverpool. 
Here we have the satisfaction of again meeting our fellow-trav- 
eler R , and of comparing notes with him on the question of 

home rule, which the reader has already had the benefit of in 
this chapter. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

H BRIGHT morning this 28th day of June, when the glad 
news is announced that the "City of Rome" is lying 
to just outside the Queenstown harbor, waiting for 
her Irish passengers. There are one hundred and thirty of us, 
nearly all Irish, crossing the sea to find permanent homes in 
the States, to go aboard the tender for conveyance out to the 
steamer. 

What amusing phases of the Irish character we see as we 
take a stroll along the quay among the busy crowd! Most of 
them have taken steerage passage, and are intent on getting 
together sundry articles which they think they will need on 
the voyage, pans, tin cups, bedding, and not a few are hunting 
remedies for sea sickness. Here an old Irish woman, illiterate 
in every other respect, but a graduate in the school of flattery, be- 
seeches us for the Lord's sake to leave her a sixpence or a shill- 
ing for the poor starving family, in the meantime plastering her 
speech freely with wishes for heaven's choicest blessings to rest 
upon us during the voyage, as well as at every other point of our 
existence; but, behold! when, taught by our observations that 
the grog shop instead of the grocery man will come into posses- 
sion of our gratuity, we tell her that she is too late in her appli- 
cation, for the hungry Italian and backshish-loving Arab has 
taken all we have to spare, she turns on us a volley of curses 
that would grace the speech of a fiend from the bottomless pit. 
(280) 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 281 

Our tender shoves off with her load of passengers, and 
we are soon scrambhng up the gang stairs of the "City of 
Rome." "This vessel's prow is turned in a direction exactly 

to my taste," remarks R , as we make the tour of her lengthy 

promenade deck, and the other pilgrim looks out westward over 
the wide waste of waters, longingly, as though he wished the 
vessel's prow was three thousand miles nearer the sun setting 
than it is at the present moment. The steamship "Celtic," of the 
White Star Line, follows us closely when, about lo o'clock, 
the "City of Rome" puts out to sea. 

About 3 o'clock p. m. the Irish coast is cleared, and we say 
good-bye to land for the next seven days. A tour of the steer- 
age deck reveals the fact that our Irish passengers are having a 
most uncomfortable experience in a first attack of sea sickness. 
We heard some of them say, when going out on the tender with 
them, that "They knew they were going to be sea sick right 
away," and so of course they must be, in order not to disappoint 
expectations, for there is certainly no other reason for it, with 
the monster steamer, and smooth sea that we are favored with 
on the first two days of the voyage. 

On Saturday, our third day out, there are evident signs 
of a coming tempest. The night is a wild one, and our fine 
vessel rears and plunges like a war horse in the midst of the 
angry billows. The morning brings no abatement of the tem- 
pest. The passengers are nearly all sick ; no sun to look in upon 
us with a smile of hope; all is gloom, and as the Sabbath ad- 
vances the tempest increases. A giant wave strikes the vessel 
on the bow about 12 o'clock, raking the hurricane deck fore 
and aft, nearly sweeping us off our feet into the sea. A protect- 
ing cabin against which we are leaning, firmly grasping a hand 
rail attached to it, saves us doubtless for a more expensive fu- 
neral. Captain Young is interviewed by an "Evening Sun" 
reporter when we come into New York harbor, and in the next 
day's issue of the "Sun" we find the Captain's account of the 
storm as follows: 



282 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

A hig-h tidal wave struck the steamship "City of Rome" 
on July 1st, after being out three days and while in longitude 
47.50 and latitude 38.22. The steamship arrived at her dock, 
pier 43, North River, last evening, with passengers, crew and 
cargo safe and sound, although those on board had a pretty 
lively experience and one a good many do not care to repeat. 
She carried on the trip 1,201 steerage passengers, 119 first-class 
and 112 second-class passengers. The "City of Rome" is the 
largest steamship crossing the Atlantic. Her regular tonnage 
is 8,415, and she is considered a very stanch craft. 

Her commander, Captain Hugh Young, was seen this 
morning by an "Evening Sun" reporter. He said that about 
noon of July i, almost without any warning, a stiff (westerly 
gale sprung up, closely followed by an immense tidal wave, 
which struck the steamship full on the bow, and swept over 
the forward deck with great violence. The force was so tre- 
mendous that the boom was carried away, and stove in the 
railing of the bridge. A seaman was knocked down and badly 
cut about the face and head. He is reported to have recovered 
from his injuries and will be able to resume work on the next 
trip. 

Captain Young says the wave dashed over them so suddenly 
that none of the cabin passengers were aware of what had 
occurred until it was over. There was but the single wave, 
and all commotion was over inside of five minutes. 

The steerage passengers were pretty well shaken up, but 
none were reported injured. The "City of Rome" has been on 
the Anchor Line for five years, and this is the second experi- 
ence of the kind she has had. The last time was about two 
years ago, and then, like this occasion, the steamship pulled 
through all right. It will take several hundred dollars to re- 
pair the damage done the steamship by the angry waves, but 
she will sail for Europe all the same on the morning of July 1 1 
as per schedule. 

A rather singular circumstance in connection with the 
mishap was recalled by a sea captain this afternoon. It seems 
that just about a year ago at this time the "Umbria," of the 
Cunard Line, had her decks swept with a tidal wave, which 
shook the vessel from stem to stern, and while considerable 
damage was done, none of the passengers were injured. The 
accident occurred nearly in the same latitude and longitude as 
did the one to the "City of Rome." 



H 
> 

M 
?<3 



n 
H 

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284 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

But forty hours of gale are at last safely ridden through 
and our dangers are over, we trust, for the rest of the voyage. 
In the midst of our greatest peril we were confident of two 
things; first, that the watchful eye of the Eternal was over us, 
and that the raging billows must hush their fury, if His man- 
date went forth for that purpose ; if not, all was well, for we were 
still in His keeping. We were confident, in the second place, 
of the storm-breasting qualities of our grand old steamer, for 
she holds first rank among the great travelers of the deep. 

The morning of Independence day dawns bright and fair 
on ship board, giving opportunity to our sea-stricken voyagers 
to go on deck and enjoy a day of sunshine and pleasant con- 
verse. As the passengers come straggling up on deck after 
breakfast, the fire alarm is suddenly sounded, and officers, deck 
hands and stewards are seen hastening up to the forward part 
of the hurricane deck. "Can it be possible," we say to a friend 
with whom we are in conversation at the time, ''that we have 
escaped the storm only to fall a prey to the devouring fire?" 
Surely it must be so! for the fire buckets are passing, and the 
life boats are being got ready. Blanched faces appear at cabin 
doors, and anxious questions are asked of all who are supposed 
to have any information. Those are anxious minutes that pass 
before we learn that it is simply a fire drill of the crew ! 

And now our noble ship is getting down to business in fine 
style, making about eighteen knots an hour. It is the expecta- 
tion to finish our voyage to-day, the 5th of July. Outward- 
bound vessels are quite numerous, and our flag is dipped in 
salutation oftener this day than during all the rest of the voyage. 
It is 6 o'clock in the evening before the Long Island shore is 
sighted, and a little later when Sandy Hook promontory comes 
into view. We cannot tell you, reader, of the joy that this 
vision of our native shores brought us. If there is a spark of 
true native-born American love in the bosom of him who leaves 
our happy shores for a period of wandering in European and 
Asiatic lands, the pilgrim will return with it magnified an huiv 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 285 

dred fold; for he has had an opportunity to make comparisons 
which, with all due allowance for inborn patriotism, still leaves 
America far in the van of nations. 

It is sundown as we enter the North River; too late to pass 
the customs' and doctor's inspection, so our vessel comes to a 
halt opposite the Statue of Liberty and waits for the morning. 
How beautiful the river scenery is to-night, as we sit on deck • 
watching the passenger boats gliding up and down all aglow 
with electric and colored lights! The shores, too, are all be- 
spangled with lights of many hues, and a little belated patriot- 
ism is indulging itself at various points in a shower of rockets. 
Our passengers, too, are making the evening lively on deck with 
song, drink and social intercourse. And thus ends the record 
of our wanderings; and with a few general notes on the ways 
and means, economical and otherwise, of making such a tour as 
we have just finished, we will take our leave of the reader, wish- 
ing him the pleasure of a similar experience. 

The first sine qua non of travel is taste for it. If the natural 
fondness for travel amounts to a passion, so much the better, 
the profit and pleasure of the tour will be so much the more en- 
hanced. Months of continuous travel are likely to grow monot- 
onous and, like an over feed of good things, to turn even into 
nausea if there be not some hidden spring of fondness for it in 
the nature of the tourist to feed the vision and stimulate the wan- 
ing energies of the body. Another requisite of travel is com- 
panionship. One good, agreeable companion whose tastes cor- 
respond in large measure with your own, is better than more. 
With this kind of an outfit, not forgetting to place in our breast 
pocket a letter of credit for about $700, we are ready for our 
ocean voyage, and a trip such as we have taken. 

What kind of a ship, and what class of passage shall we 
take? The larger the vessel the more comfortable the passage 
is likely to be, for there is less of sea motion in proportion to 
the size of the vessel, and that means less liability to sea sickness. 
The traveler who finds himself prostrated fifter bis first meal 



286 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

or two by this bugbear of ocean travel is likely to feel somewhat 
like the Frenchman who, after he had paid his tribute to Nep- 
tune, remarked with a ghastly grin on his face, "For plaiser I 
cross the ocean never." One may cross the ocean, if he hask 
any natural fondness for it and manages himself judiciously, 
without knowing experimentally what sea sickness is. Not- 
withstanding our experience of about thirty-five days on ocean 
and sea, we have no't had more than fifteen minutes of sea sick- 
ness all told, just enough to enable us to sympathize with others 
less fortunate. 

The class of passage will depend on circumstances. If we 
are economically inclined a second cabin, or intermediate on 
a good-sized vessel, will afford us all the comforts necessary. 
If we are crossing in summer, and are gentlemen, a steerage 
passage will answer us very well. A steerage ticket will cost us 
but twenty dollars, while a second cabin on a vessel like the 
"City of Rome" will cost us thirty-six dollars; with little dif- 
ference so far as food is concerned. If a French vessel be taken 
from New York to Havre or Marseilles, second cabin is 
as good as anybody but an autocrat need desire. Let there be 
no box luggage to look after; take nothing but hand luggage, 
and an endless amount of worry and trouble, besides expense, 
will be saved. The tourist abroad, be his motive health, pleasure, 
or knowledge, or all in combination, will find his pleasure en- 
hanced by making all the use he can out of his legs; and then 
it makes that $700 letter of credit do so much more for him. 
But if he have a box or trunk tO' look after, he finds it making 
sad inroads on his time and plans of economy. 

For a visit to Europe we would sooner take the early fall 
months than the midsummer ones, for the reason that cool 
weather is better than hot in any country for touring purposes. 
If it is the grand scenery and quiet rest of the mountains of 
Italy and France that are sought, the summer months will do 
very well. But another reason still for fall touring is that you 
do not fall in with the fashionable multitudes from our own side 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 287 

of the water that have emptied themselves out into all the 
principal cities of Europe. Hotels, boarding houses, and pleas- 
ure resorts are all crowded to their utmost capacity, and rates 
are correspondingly high. London is one of the most interest- 
ing of all cities, and can be seen to best advantage in the early 
fall months when it is comparatively free from fogs. Of the 
two seasons we visited it in, spring and fall, we have a decided 
preference for the fall. Apartments for two or more persons 
by the week may be had for about three dollars each person, 
with or without board. Two, or even three, weeks are necessary 
to see the objects of interest in and around London. 

If one makes the tour of the principal cities of Europe 
in this leisurely manner, his whole expenses per month, including 
traveling expenses, need not be more than seventy-five dollars. 
Railway travel in Great Britain should be third-class; second- 
class coaches are withdrawn by some of the roads, being so 
little patronized. The third-class coaches are cushioned and 
are in every way as comfortable as the first-class. On the con- 
tinent, especially in Italy, the travel should be second-class, as 
the third-class cars are more like cattle pens, and are used by 
the lowest class of people. Look out for the French cabman ; 
you will find nothing worse in his line, go where you will. Make 
a bargain with him before you use his vehicle or he will charge 
you two or three prices. The same advice will do for the Italian 
cables. In Italy the pest of your life will be the beg- 
gar. Give him the cold shoulder, for his history is that he 
eats the bread of idleness because he has conceived the idea 
that you have more money than you know what to do with and 
that you are traveling on purpose to find some means of its 
disposal, and he is doing you a favor to place himself in your 
way. He is too much of an aristocrat to stoop to the menial task 
of earning his daily bread when it can be had from you simply 
for the asking. 

One may live very comfortably in Rome or Naples on 80 
cents a day. If you are going on to Egypt and the Holy Land 



288 FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT. 

do not get frightened at the idea that you are going among 
a lot of wild animals and must have a company to go with 
for safety's sake. We had the misfortune to throw away about 
thirty dollars by adopting this idea, and joining a personally- 
conducted party at Rome. Avoid Cook, Gaze, Jenkins, and all 
other tourist agencies, and journey on independently. You will 
never be without company, and never out of the reach of Eng- 
lish-speaking guides, and much better terms can be made 
at the places you intend to visit than can be made at a 
distance; and in addition to this you are a master of your own 
movements. If sickness or any other calamity overtakes you, 
you are at liberty to stop or return as you may find it necessary. 
One of the most prolific sources of dissatisfaction that met us 
everywhere on the soil of the Orient was this hampered condi- 
tion of tourists under the personal direction of some tourist 
agency, and the advantage that was taken of their ignorance 
in the matter of fares. 

The Arabs of both Egypt and Palestine are, as a rule, glad 
to see the pilgrims coming and will afford them all the assist- 
ance in their power — for backshish. It is necessary always to 
make bargains with them beforehand, for they are great lovers 
of foreign coin and will take all they can get of it. Although 
quarrelsome among themselves, it is very rare that they offer 
any violence to the traveler. Only the wild Bedouins think 
of this. In Jerusalem the pilgrim will find plenty of good ac- 
commodation at rates more reasonable than in any part of the 
more civilized western world. It is only when one comes to 
travel through the land with tents, dragomen, muleteers, and 
the whole paraphernalia requisite for comfort on the lengthy 
tour through waste lands, that he finds himself involved in more 
than the ordinary expense. Tliis portion of the trip must be 
made at an expense of about five dollars a day. And if ladies 
are in the party who are not inured to long rides in the saddle, 
palanquins will be found necessary, which will increase the ex- 
pense to about seven dollars per day. The tenting tour through 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 289 

Palestine is a hard one at best, and should not be undertaken 
by ladies who are not stout and rugged. 

As to clothing, take but little of that with you; a simple 
change of underclothing, with a traveling suit of some light- 
colored material which will not show the dust. Buy as you 
go, for in most of the markets of the old world clothing is 
cheaper than on this side of the water. These suggestions 
are for travelers of limited means, who want to make their little 
go as far as possible. 

THE END. 



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